


The Bet

by t50109871



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Bucky Barnes Recovering, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Romance, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Has Issues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-26
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:55:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21572590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/t50109871/pseuds/t50109871
Summary: James Bucky Barnes doesn't sleep. The Avengers decided to bet on who could put Barnes to sleep first. Tony has some ideas.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark
Comments: 61
Kudos: 488





	1. Chapter 1

Tony was out of coffee and walking to the communal kitchen, which happened quite often. Tony thought he should fire someone. Seriously, he was insanely rich, always at the workshop, was constantly in need of an unhealthy amount of coffee.

Why was he out, walking for a full ten minutes to the communal kitchen? He could've achieved so much more if there was coffee in the workshop.

Then Tony realized that it was probably Pepper's doing, Pepper being Pepper, trying to keep Tony from overdosing on caffeine. Tony never won an argument with Pepper. So, it seemed like the walk was inevitable.

When he entered the kitchen, Tony found all the Avengers huddled up together.

"This is not a dorm. You're not college kids. What the fuck are you gossiping about?" Tony asked.

"Shh," Natasha whispered.

"Don't shush me. I own this place."

Natasha poked Tony with her very sharp fingers and pointed at the corner of the kitchen. Tony found Barnes leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, looking fucking great as usual. But there was something strange about his stance, and Tony soon learned that he was dozing off. It was barely noticeable because of a lock of hair hiding his eyes.

But it was clear that he was sleeping, standing up, in the middle of the afternoon, watched like a zoo animal by his co-workers.

\--

After their disastrous, messy war ended, it took a few months of trying to work it out, but they did find the middle ground. Tony had his terms, and Rogers had his. They somehow met in the middle, which felt like a real miracle.

The ex-rogue Avengers moved into the Stark tower. Barnes was a package deal, and Tony accepted that.

Tony did extensive research on Barnes as he would when he was stuck or unsure. Things he found out were brutal. Tony had to take multiple breaks reading Barnes's file. One time he had to run to the restroom to throw up. Barnes had gone through too much shit for one lifetime.

Tony felt horrible, but that didn't mean he forgave Barnes. Brainwashed or not, it was still Barnes who killed his parents.

Anyway, it didn't matter. Barnes will stay in his part of the building, and they won't meet. That was good enough for him.

But of course, things didn't pan out as Tony planned.

Tony and Barnes kept crossing paths. Maybe it was inevitable, despite the building being huge, they were on the same team, and some of the meetings and training were mandatory. But perhaps it was because Tony sometimes went to the communal areas only to find Barnes.

Tony was curious. Who's this guy? After all the things he had to go through, what would he do now?

Barnes seemed surprised at Tony's interest at first, but he didn't avoid or run away from him. They circled each other, quietly observing. Never too close but somehow always in each other's sight.

And before Tony could do anything, watching Barnes became one of his daily habits. The problem was that Tony kind of liked it.

Nothing of this made sense. Tony was sure he was going crazy.

Tony considered therapy but then thought, fuck it. At least he wasn't fucking the guy. And then fucking Barnes came to mind and didn't fucking leave. Tony begrudgingly made an appointment with a therapist, which he missed because of something important he couldn't remember now.

While watching Barnes train, eat, do everyday tasks, Tony found out Barnes had some issues.

Food was on the top of the list. Barnes didn't eat for a while, which drove Rogers crazy. Barnes was surprised at the abundance of food. The taste seems to spook him also. What the fuck did the hydra assholes feed him?

One late night, Tony went to the communal kitchen to find more coffee and found Barnes deep in thought, nursing a cup. Tony considered leaving Barnes alone, but he did need his daily caffeine dose, and his daily Barnes watching was on a dead end.

Tony didn't get the chance to be with Barnes alone. There were always other people between them. Tony suspected Rogers for it because Rogers was still stiff and nervous around Tony and Barnes. They did the shake hands and makeup dance for Rogers, but it seemed like it wasn't enough for him, which was understandable. Tony did try to kill him.

So, Tony took the chance. He entered the kitchen like it's normal, and though Barnes flinched and tensed up when he saw Tony, Barnes didn't run.

Tony was a little hungry and wanted some distraction, so he made some pasta, nothing fancy. They ate from the pan together because Tony didn't want to do the dishes, which didn't make sense since he had plenty of people paid to do that.

"You're good," Barnes said after taking a bite.

"I'm great at everything," Tony said with his usual swagger, "Fine. It's just a really good recipe. I learned it from a gorgeous Italian model I dated," Tony had to add, at Barnes's stare.

"Show-off," Barnes murmured, grinning.

"Oh, she was a great teacher. You don't even want to know what she taught me in the bedroom," Tony winked, and Barnes turned red, making Tony laugh.

Barnes didn't eat much. Maybe three bites. But the food did go into Barnes, and Tony counted that as a win. Barnes put his fork down but kept watching Tony eat.

After the food was gone, Tony didn't know what to do, so he drank coffee with Barnes. They couldn't just look at the coffee mug in silence. It would be weird. There was nothing for Tony to do but to start a conversation.

So they talked. Ok, mostly Tony talked, and Barnes listened. Tony told Barnes about the project he was developing, bounced some ideas on him.

While talking, Tony spontaneously got some ice-cream from the fridge and put it between them with two spoons. He talked non-stop, knowing what his constant rambling does to people. Barnes wasn't aware of the fact that he was eating before the tub was half-empty. When Barnes found the spoon in his hands, he froze, and Tony tried to keep the conversation going like he didn't notice.

The next spoon of ice-cream Barnes carefully took was intentional. Tony saw Barnes savoring the taste, saw a small but significant smile on Barnes's face, and tried to ignore it. Barnes licked his lips after that, which was much harder to ignore.

They spent time together, lips cold and numb from an unhealthy amount of ice-cream until Rogers came from his morning run, sweating everywhere. Tony realized it'd been almost five hours.

Tony didn't spend more than a couple of hours with anyone after the fight. Rogers and Tony were cool, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. If Tony didn't miss therapy, the therapist would've said his trust issues were on fire, and that was why he didn't go to therapy. Tony already knew.

Tony left immediately, leaving confused Barnes and Rogers behind.

\--

To Barnes, sleeping was always the trickiest. Rogers found Barnes sleeping on the closet floor more than a few times.

Tony was trying to keep his distance from Barnes when he heard about it. He considered the pros and cons of staying away from Barnes but left his room mid-making the list.

Tony took Barnes on a tour of the Tower. They walked around until Barnes found a tiny room with two windows. Through those two windows, Tony saw that no one could climb in, but Barnes could jump and run away safely. But Tony didn't say anything. Barnes moved in that afternoon.

Still, closet floor sleeping was a tricky habit just to quit. Tony saw Barnes and Rogers arguing about it. Tony knew he should ignore them and move on, but he never did what he should. He joined in and annoyed the hell out of Rogers until Rogers had only two options. Punch Tony in the face or go for an anger run. Rogers chose the latter.

Barnes smiled at Tony and thanked him. Before leaving to stop Rogers from exploding, Barnes looked at him for a second, his eyes wide and a little bit of color rising on his cheeks. Tony asked why, but Barnes just shook his head a couple of times and left. That look Barnes gave strangely didn't leave Tony's mind.

Tony bought a mattress that fit Barnes's tiny room's tinier closet but couldn't find a way to give it to him without making things weird. So, he just stored it in his workshop. He sometimes looked at it, thinking of Barnes' expression and wondered if he really should see a therapist.

\--

Now Barnes wasn't sleeping at all.

"How long?" Tony asked casually.

"I don't know. Maybe five minutes? It's so weird," Barton muttered.

"No, asshole. How long since Barnes slept?" Tony turned around and found the coffee pot full. Thank god.

"We don't know," Natasha whispered. She then grabbed one of Tony's tumbler and gave him a look that said, 'You're not drinking three pots of coffee, you idiot.'

"I'm not going to drink it all. It's just in case of..." Tony argued.

"In case of what?" Natasha cut him off, her eyes sharp.

"Fire? I don't know. Fine," Tony reluctantly let go of the tumbler.  
She was becoming more like Pepper every day. Maybe putting Pepper and Natasha in the same room was a bad idea.

"Rogers? How long?" Tony continued.

"I think it's been a couple of days, but I'm not sure."

"He'll die," Tony said, sipping his coffee.

"We were making a bet," Barton smirked.

"It's not a bet, exactly," Rogers blushed right away.

"What? On when Barnes dies? Great teamwork," Tony said dryly.

"No, no. It's, um, whoever makes Bucky sleep wins," Rogers added quickly, still blushing. Winter Soldier's supposed Best Friend Forever. Shame on him.

Tony took a long look at Barnes and found he lost some weight.

"Ok, I'm in," Tony declared.

"He doesn't trust you," Rogers said with a frown.

"And you don't know him," Banner's in this too?

"Also, you're a terrible loser," Natasha said.

"Trust is overrated, and I can find out, and rude, I'm an amazing loser," Tony said with a smirk.

"So, what's the prize?" Tony asked, and thought, Barnes had no idea what was coming for him.  
  
\--  
  
The Avengers made a list of rules.

1\. Everyone gets one day each.

2\. Barnes has to sleep for more than 5 hours. Not standing or crouching. Lying on a flat surface. Bed, sofa, ground, etc.

'No' list included,

1\. Knocking him out.

2\. Magic.

It was a shortlist. Tony doubted it was going to stay that way.

\--

Rogers was the first one to go. Rogers persuaded Barnes into doing a full triathlon with him. And another. It was dark when Rogers passed out, but the training made Barnes jittery. He punched three more punching bags to pieces.

\--

They did the triathlon inside the Stark Tower because Barnes was still refusing to go outside. Tony offered his huge warehouse, where he stacked his toys. He helped them clean it up and made a decent track for them to run and bike.

Tony had a state of the art swimming pool too. When he installed it a decade ago, Tony thought maybe it was too much. But he was dating an Olympic bronze medalist, and he thought he was in love. He was wrong. They broke up before the next Olympics, and of course, she won a gold medal. They had a messy break-up, so Tony came close to getting rid of the pool but ended up keeping it.

Tony watched Rogers and Barnes swim on his lunch break and noticed Barnes deliberately slowing down, waiting for Rogers to catch up.

When Barnes found out Tony was watching, he waved at him. Tony waved back, admiring the view. Tony had a meeting after lunch but ditched it. Watching Barnes swimming with only a tight speedo on was considerably better than sitting in some boring meeting.

Keeping the swimming pool somehow paid back, Tony thought as he took another bite of his sandwich.

\--

Making Barnes stay in the Tower wasn't easy. Rogers guilt-tripped the hell out of Barnes to come with him to the Tower, but guilt only worked at first.

Tony quickly figured out that Barnes didn't want to stay because every time Barnes attempted to leave, Friday caught him on the security camera and alerted Tony. It was strange because Barnes would pack his things in the middle of the night and left the building, but he always came back after a few hours.

So, tired of many midnight notices from Friday, Tony waited at the emergency exit Barnes used. Barnes usually came back before Rogers's five o'clock run, so Tony went out at four.

It was a beautiful early summer night. Tony sat on the bench, enjoying the night. Not too hot, clear sky, the air fresh as New york's could get. Tony brought some paperwork to do, but his day was hectic, and he fell asleep.

Tony woke up by the sound of Barnes clearing his throat.

"What?" Tony mumbled, half-asleep.

"Um. Why are you here?" Barnes asked.

"Oh, yeah. I wanted to talk to you."

Tony tried to get up, but instead, he got a nasty cramp and fell headfirst, would've broken his face if Barnes hadn't caught him. Barnes put him back on the bench like he weighed nothing, which was a bit unsettling.

"Thank you," Tony said awkwardly, biting back the whine because his leg was hurting so much, "Ok, the thing is... What are you doing?" Tony yelped, despite his effort to save his last dignity, because Barnes sat beside him and started to massage Tony's leg.

"Keep talking," Barnes said.

"Right, um, you don't have to... Oh my god. How did you do that?"

Barnes did something with his hand, and the pain was gone instantly.

"I have a lot of skills," Barnes said plainly.

And the way he said that woke Tony up. What did Barnes have to go through to obtain those 'skills'?

"You don't have to come back if you don't want to. Rogers will understand," Tony said, looking straight into Barnes's eyes.

"It's not... I didn't leave. I want to. But," Barnes's stopped and sighed.

"Wait, then what have you been doing for hours?"

"I stand there."

"Where?"

Barnes pointed at a spot near the exit. The darkest part of the alley, no wonder Tony didn't see him.

"You stand there, and you can't leave, why?" Tony repeated slowly.

"I don't know."

Tony pictured Barnes standing near the exit door every day, for hours, trying to go, and fail. It reminded Tony of his own panic attacks.

"Why are you trying to leave?" Tony asked.

"Because I don't belong here."

"Why?"

"Are you serious? I can't live off of you," Barnes said, avoiding Tony's eyes.

Tony didn't know what to say. So, he didn't say anything. They sat like that for a while.

Tony took a careful look at Barnes. He was completely different from the one who Tony first met. Barnes had a bit of winter soldier on him then, but now Tony couldn't find it. And he wasn't the old Bucky Rogers raved about. He was something else, and Tony wanted to know him.

"Barnes. I don't let anyone boss me around. That's the number one perk for being crazy rich. If I didn't want you here, you wouldn't be here," Tony said as clearly as he could manage, "You do what you want to do. I think it's time that you get that."

Tony stood up to leave and felt Barnes tense up. Before walking away, he looked down at Barnes one last time. Barnes looked nervous, so Tony had to say softly, "You ok?"

Barnes nodded and reached out to take hold of Tony's hand. Tony shook hands and felt Barnes lingering. But he wasn't sure.

Tony later recalled that was when his protective instinct kicked in. And he had been screwed since.

\--

When Barnes finally settled in, it looked like he decided to stay inside forever. Barnes never left the building on his own. Yes, Barnes got out on the rare occasion when he was on the mission, but Tony saw Barnes's expression change into something more dark and urgent.

Barnes's team always completed the mission first. In Tony's opinion, it was because Barnes was exceptionally skilled and sharp, but also Barnes desperately wanting to get back inside worked as well.

\--

After Tony took a short break watching Barnes and Rogers swim, the day passed by quickly. His official business was done, but instead of going to the penthouse like a normal person, he headed to his workshop. Tony would play around with some shiny new stuff before passing out on the workshop's tiny old couch with a glass of scotch on his hand as he did almost every day.

But as Tony took a step inside, he felt someone inside. Tony quickly and quietly grabbed his gun and was ready to shoot. Then someone he never expected rose from the couch.

"What the fuck, Barnes? I almost shot you!"

"No, your aim is off. You would've shot that."

Barnes pointed at the display cabinet that Tony put his favorite toys.

"Ok, fuck you then," Tony poured himself a generous amount of scotch. He almost shot his best toys and got mocked by Barnes. Tony earned it.

"Why are you here, Barnes?" 

"Can I stay here for a while?"

"Why?"

"They can't come in here. I need a break."

"'They'?"

"There's a bet. They want me to sleep. I don't know why because I'm fine," Barnes said with a deep frown. Tony noticed the bags under Barnes's eyes and his significant weight loss but didn't point it out.

"Stevie confessed. I ran here before he cries."

Idiot, Tony swore. At least Barnes didn't know Tony's involved.

"Ok. But you can't come in here too, you know. How did you get in?"

Barnes just smiled. Fucking spies.

"I'll be quiet, I promise."

Tony thought for a moment and although his inner therapist yelled 'no, never, no, not a good idea, don't do this,' said,

"Fine. Just don't touch anything."

Tony worked, and Barnes... well, he did nothing.

Tony couldn't see Barnes because the fucking couch was facing the wall, so Tony stared at the back of Barnes's head, trying to figure him out.  
Barnes wasn't watching Tony work, and the TV was off.

"You want to watch TV?" Tony asked.

"No, I'm fine," Barnes answered, not turning back.

"You drink? Want some scotch? Did you eat? I don't think I have anything in here, but I can get someone to come and..." Tony rambled on, ready to call someone to bring anything Barnes want. 

"Tony, I'm good. Do your thing. I'm not here."

"Ok."

Tony worked with his headphones on, and after a while, he turned to find Barnes gone.

\--

Barnes turning up at Tony's workshop was unexpected, to say the least.

Tony and Barnes got along great for a while. Others didn't know because they only met in the middle of the night. They usually spent time in the kitchen. Tony cooked, Barnes sometimes joined in, sometimes just watched Tony eat. They talked, though a lot of topics were off-limits. One time they even watched some shit TV together. Tony saw Barnes slowly coming out of his shell and felt happier than he should be.

And then things changed.

There was a mandatory fundraiser party. Tony hated those kinds of events, but he had been training for it all his life. So he sucked it up, put on his game face, and charmed and flirted his way through the crowd.

And he saw Barnes on the other side of the room. Yes, Barnes looked stunning in his military uniform. Barnes being insanely hot wasn't new news. It wasn't that. Tony noticed something was off.

"Go to Barnes. He looks... different," Tony said to Rogers.

Barton took one short look and said, "He's always like that. He has just one setting. International hitman look. Menacing, moody, no expression."

"Jerk," Natasha punched Barton's arm and went to see Barnes.

Tony watched Natasha approaching Barnes, whispering something to him, and Barnes nodding blankly at what she said. Natasha came back and said, "He's good."

"Tony, No one forced him to come. Bucky's fine, really," Rogers said.

But Tony knew he was not.

\--

After the party, Barnes didn't come out of his room for three days.

\--

Tony saw what others couldn't. Even Rogers missed it.

Tony wasn't that ignorant. He knew Barnes was getting attached. And on Tony's side, there were some feelings he wasn't ready to deal with.

They're getting too close, shut it down, Tony thought.

Friday told Tony that Barnes was in the kitchen. They never made a promise specifically on when or where to meet. They just found each other naturally. Maybe Barnes wasn't waiting for him, Tony thought, but he knew it wasn't true. Tony paced around the workshop until the sun came up and passed out on the couch.

\--

It took five long nights for Barnes to stop waiting at the communal kitchen. Tony considered what to say if Barnes asked why, but Barnes never did.

Their late-night meetings ended like that. Things went back to normal. Though Tony learned he intensely disliked 'normal.'

Tony thought it was good. This distance, he could handle. But Tony couldn't stop his eyes from wandering to find Barnes. Barnes didn't approach him, but Tony caught Barnes stealing glances too.

But Tony kept his distance, and Barnes did too. They hung out with other people near and talked a few times, but the intimacy they had on those nights was gone. They were not friends, just friendly co-workers who lived in the same building.

So, Barnes breaking into Tony's workshop, asking if he could stay was confusing, to put it mildly.

Tony looked at the mattress he bought for Barnes and tried to figure out what the fuck happened, failed, and ended up drinking more than he should.

The next day was Natasha's turn, and Tony knew she was going to pull some weird shit. At least he had something to look forward to.


	2. Chapter 2

Surprisingly, Natasha chose food as her strategy, which made Tony pity Barnes truly because her cooking just plain sucks.

Natasha spoke more than five languages, a great shot, knew all kinds of martial arts, some Tony never even heard of, a beautiful gymnast - Tony saw Natasha doing yoga and fell in love immediately, flirted for a week to get into her pants and got smacked so many times he blamed her for changing the shape of his head forever.

Natasha also cheated and flirted in such a filthy way even Tony blushed, listening to her seduce on missions. And she looked stunning to a maddening degree.

She did everything perfectly, except she just could, not, cook. Her cooking was close to a crime, no, it actually almost killed once.

Natasha went undercover to get info from a Chinese arms dealer. She was supposed to lure him into custody, but before she could make a move, he got a terrible food poisoning from her cooking and surrendered voluntarily, terrified of what Natasha would do to him. She grumbled that all the plans she had for him went to waste, but Tony only felt sorry for the guy. He was just trying to sell deadly weapons illegally to very dangerous people, he didn't deserve Natasha's cooking.

Plus, Tony remembered one glorious night Natasha cooked dinner for the team, which led to the team getting food poisoning, resulting in most of them forced to pass on the mission the next day. Only Rogers, with his super-soldier metabolism and Thor who strangely enjoyed Natasha's cooking, survived. Rogers said the food wasn't that bad, but Tony saw Rogers avoiding the kitchen when Natasha was practicing.

Natasha was really devoted to the bet. Maybe a bit too much. She stayed up late, researching food and recipes that help insomnia. Tony skimmed it and knew she wouldn't be able to make even one of those. Tony squeezed her arm once and said, "Do your best, but please don't kill him."

Natasha followed Barnes all day. So, constant shouting and screaming in Russian was inevitable. Due to his unfortunate past of dating countless Russian models, Tony understood a bit of their conversation and found out they were mostly swearing at each other.

The day started with a thick, smelly grey smoothie with big chunks of something Tony didn't even want to know. How do you fuck up a smoothie? Barnes refused like a normal human being with a sense of self-preservation would, but Natasha fought dirty. She tackled Barnes down, climbed on him, and force-fed the smoothie.

Lunch was fish with white rice. If your cooking sucks, DO NOT go near any kind of fish, but Natasha seemed to disagree. Tony could smell it from his workshop. They should fumigate the kitchen or just burn it down. Natasha cheated again, promising Barnes it was the last one. Never try to negotiate with a spy-soldier with a purpose and crazy eyes, Tony thought, but Barnes caved. Barnes ate half of it without throwing up. Tony respected him for that.

After lunch, Barnes locked himself up in his room. But Natasha broke in through the window, which Tony was sure was impossible, but she made it without breaking her back. How Natasha climbed in, Tony didn't know and was afraid to find out.

Natasha fed Barnes chicken and chickpea salad for dinner. Rogers had to get involved at the sight of chicken because the debacle of team food poisoning was due to uncooked chicken. So at least it was cooked through.

Natasha also confiscated everything that had caffeine and alcohol in it from the communal area. The mighty Avengers sent Banner as a representative to negotiate, but Banner soon got back and, without a word, took everyone to a near Starbucks and then to a bar. Something Natasha did must've shaken Banner to the core because he didn't let anyone go back until Natasha's time was over.

And there were endless snacks in between, herbal tea, yogurt, fruits. Barnes hid all day, but somehow Natasha found him and kept pushing food on him. Later Tony found out his demo GPS tracker is missing. Fucking spies.

One time while running from Natasha, Barnes bumped into Tony. He looked at Tony with a desperate 'help me' look, but Tony laughed and yelled, "He's here!" And yes, Barnes was stronger, but Natasha was persistent and sneaky as fuck. Tony watched her chasing Barnes at full speed with a pot of camomile tea, not spilling one drop.

Tony was glad that at least Barnes ate something, although it might kill him at the end.

\--

"No poison" was added to the 'No List.'

\--

Barnes brought a pot of soup and some bread with him to the workshop that night.

"I'm not putting that in my mouth," Tony winced.

"I made it," Barnes put the tray on the table and went to help himself with some coffee.

"Natasha didn't let me," Barnes frowned and gulped down the coffee.

"You ok?" Tony asked, having a spoonful of soup.

"Won't die, I think. Not sure."

"So, How did she get you?"

"She... She made me promise to never tell, and she's scary," Barnes mumbled.

"Come on. Natasha cried, right?" Tony grinned.

"How did you know?" Barnes's eyes widened, and Tony couldn't stop laughing.

"She did the same thing to me."

"Huh?"

"You're not the only one with issues, Barnes."

Tony said casually, but Barnes stopped and bit his lower lip. Tony learned little things about Barnes from the times they've spent together. That was what Barnes did when he was unsure. Tony wanted to stop him, so he added quickly.

"I'm disappointed, Barnes. I thought you were a better spy."

"I knew she was faking. Her acting's not as good as she thinks," Barnes shrugged.

"What? Then why did you..."

"I just thought. Natasha's nice. Food was shit, but. I like her. She's nice."

"Ok, if you call force-feeding someone with poison 'nice,' she is definitely the nicest person I've..." Tony didn't get to finish his sentence because Barnes said,

"You're nice."

Tony didn't know how to react, so he focused on eating.

Barnes left with an empty tray, and as soon as the door shut, Tony ran to the bathroom, threw up before the food hit his system.

Barnes was worse than Natasha. Tony never thought it could be possible, but Barnes never stopped surprising him. It was a nice gesture, though. Nice.

Then Tony remembered one night they spent together.

\--

"Just pick something you like," Tony said.

Tony skipped dinner because he knew he'll have something with Barnes but was too tired to cook. He laid out take-out menus on the table, and Barnes had been thinking for more than hunger-driven Tony could wait.

"Come on. Before I starve to death, please," Tony begged.

Barnes didn't answer, so Tony poked him in the ribs, found out Barnes all tensed up.

"Barnes, you ok?"

Barnes hesitated for a second but took one deep breath and said plainly, "I don't know what I like."

Shit.

"Ok. Then let's find out."

Tony ordered every menu available.

Thanks to promises of a big tip, food arrived soon, saving Tony from agony. He wanted to dig in right away but waited for Barnes to take a bite of every menu. Tony watched Barnes react to each one. It was weirdly satisfying that Tony forgot his craving. Barnes liked Chinese and Mexican food, didn't care for sushi. He said pizza and pasta were ok and beamed when he had waffles and pancakes. So, Barnes had a sweet tooth.

"You ordered too much. Wasting food is a sin," Barnes grumbled, looking at the massive amount of food.

"Then go on and finish it," Tony said back, throwing a french fry at him, which Barnes caught with ease and shoved in his mouth, then gave Tony the brightest smile that made Tony's heart skip a beat.

Barnes ate a lot that night, and Tony felt so relieved that he realized then how stressed he was about Barnes's weight loss.

\--

Tony acted like it wasn't a big deal, but Barnes admitting he didn't know what he liked cut deep.

They hung out only a few times, but it was enough for Tony to learn that Barnes was lost. He had spent ages taking orders and was robbed of the chance to think, choose, and want. Live.

He just got that control back, and he was figuring out who he wanted to be.

Tony knew Barnes will get there eventually, but he felt it was going to be a long, difficult journey.

Tony sighed and started to make a mental list of sweet desserts he could introduce to Barnes, thinking about the smile Barnes showed when he took the first bite of waffle with cream.

Then a sudden fear gripped him because Tony so naturally thought he would be there with Barnes on his journey, and also, at the same time, Tony really couldn't figure out how far he would go to make Barnes smile.

This happened after Tony spent only four nights with him.

Four.

\--

Barton was next on the list.

Tony was arguing with Natasha about what to do with the fish smell when he found Barton and Banner talking near the coffee machine.

"Don't do it," Banner begged.

Barton smirked and smugly said, "You saw how much coffee Barnes drinks. Believe me, without caffeine, he'll get right to sleep. And it tastes the same anyway."

"Bucky's going to notice, and he will kill you. Tony, say something," Banner stared at Tony with a worried look.

After all the trouble Rogers and Natasha went through, Barton was just going to change Barnes's coffee to decaf.

Ok. Barton's brave, Tony will give him that. Lazy and foolish, but nevertheless, brave.

"Yeah, go do that," Tony grinned.

"It's your funeral," Natasha said, what everyone but Barton was thinking.

Barton put a freshly brewed pot of decaf coffee on the table and said,

"Watch and learn. Simple is best."

\--

A few hours later, Natasha heard a loud noise of something breaking and someone's scream.

Not after long, Banner saw Barton, his shirt ripped, with a black eye, busted nose bleeding, pissed as hell, and stomping off to the kitchen.

Rogers was the one that stopped Barton from putting crushed sleeping pills in Barnes's coffee.  
  
"No drugs" was added to the 'No list.'  
  
\--

A very unhappy Barnes entered the workshop and slumped on the couch with his lip split and jaw swollen.

"Barton, huh?" Tony said as he handed Barnes the ice bag he already put together hours ago.

"We need another war. They're bored," Barnes growled, putting the ice bag on his lips.

"No, they care about you." 

Barnes's glare was intense. Tony sighed and sat next to him.

"Ok, they're bored too," Tony admitted.

Tony looked at Barnes's beat-up face and raised his eyebrows. "You let Barton do this?"

"I couldn't think. I need coffee to think," Barnes muttered and let out a small painful groan.

"Come on, let me see," Tony turned to face Barnes and carefully looked at the wounds.

"Wow, Barton got you good," Tony murmured with his fingers on Barnes's jaw and felt a light breath on his face. Tony looked up to find they're close. Very close. Too close. He could see Barnes's split lips swollen red and wet from ice.

If Tony just tilted his head up a little bit...

"Tony," Barnes whispered.

"Huh? Ah, I'm sorry," Tony let go of Barnes and stood up quickly.

"It's going to bruise, I think, put some ice on it," Tony said as if Barnes didn't know that. Then he walked to the worktable, though he actually had nothing to do.

Fuck, Tony swore quietly and straightened out the table, just to keep his hands busy. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a blue tumbler appeared on the table.

"I got it from a fancy coffee place. It's not de-caff. I'll never do that to you," Barnes mumbled.

Coffee. For him. From a coffee place. Outside.

"You went out?" Tony managed to say after staring at it a bit too long.

"It was pretty close. I ran. I thought you might like it."

"Thanks."

Tony opened the tumbler and took a sip of it, and he was one hundred percent sure it was from his favorite coffee shop.

"I like it. Thank you," Tony said, trying very hard to hide his freak out.

Barnes nodded once and went back to his couch. The couch was facing the wall, so Tony could stare at the back of Barnes's head freely without getting caught.

It felt like his world was shaken upside down, but Tony stayed put, acted like he was working. After an hour or so, Barnes left without saying goodbye.

\--

So, Barnes went outside. He couldn't get out to do the triathlon two days ago. But he went out and found Tony's favorite coffee shop, which is twenty minutes walk from the Tower, ordered coffee talking to a civilian, and got back.

Even if Barnes ran there at super-soldier speed and there were no customers, Barnes was out of the Tower alone for at least thirty minutes.

How did he do it? No, how did he know? And why did he do it?

Maybe Barnes wasn't who Tony thought. Tony already knew he was going to sleep on the couch again, puzzled, thinking of what to do with Barnes. Tony felt like he's failing every day, but he didn't know what he is failing.

But fuck, the coffee tasted great.


	3. Chapter 3

After the ex-rogue-Avengers moved back in, Rogers obsessed on team-building exercises.

Hence came the countless e-mail invites to 'Team Game night,' 'Movie night,' 'Football Friday,' 'Sunday Barbeque,' 'Karaoke,' and so many more. Tony was sure someone in their team turned and helped Rogers on making those e-mails because the last he checked, Rogers was on 'polite text and occasional strange choice of emojis' level, not elaborate, photoshopped invitations with alarmingly loud music on the background so Rogers's super-sensitive hearing could check when someone opened the e-mail.

Tony understood why Rogers was acting crazy. Rogers was nothing if not loyal, and he turned on half of the team. It resulted in Barnes being in arms reach for Tony, but Rogers did make a colossal mess and broke more than a few hearts on the way, including Tony's.

It was Rogers's way of saying sorry, though he did the 'I'm sorry I betrayed you. It's all my fault,' handwritten letter, voice mail, public speech at parties and meetings, one unnecessary press conference, and fucking said it face to face with Tony more times than Tony could handle without walking out on Rogers. And Tony did just that, walked out on Rogers mid-apology to end the misery for good.

The apologies stopped, but the team-building bullshit events started. Tony never won anything.

Watching Rogers bend over backwards to make those events happen was endearing in a way and also entertaining since Tony interfered just to fuck with him, but Rogers with a mission was neverending and annoying.

Rogers said it was just a friendly invite, but it turned out to be very very mandatory. Tony passed a couple of those at first, but Rogers was persistent as fuck. He sent multiple e-mails, which Tony marked as spam, annoyed the hell out of Friday asking for Tony's schedule, ambushed Tony with sad puppy eyes until Tony gave up.

"You can't just put the word 'team' and expect it to work," Tony argued, but actually, it kind of worked. Damn him.

Their job made it almost impossible to have a normal interaction with other people. They couldn't meet new people because they might turn out to be hostiles. And couldn't keep in touch with old friends because both they and the mission could be compromised. The team was proud of what they did, but they were still human. Some were just human-ish or a fucking god, but whatever they were, they needed companion, conversation, relationship.

So, in the end, it worked on the team and on Tony too.

That was why he was in the kitchen, even though every fiber in his body was yelling, 'No more please, Need sleep now!'

"You look well-rested," Natasha said sarcastically, taking the last blueberry muffin right off Tony's hand.

"And you look," Tony tried to come up with a snarky comeback, but nothing came to mind. Barnes broke him.

"Shut up," Tony learned he had no strength or will power to fight back. He reached for plain toast. Tony had to eat something, or he would end up a puddle on the floor.

Last night, Tony fell asleep in his workshop couch, after hours of looking blankly at the wall, attempting to figure out what Barnes saw. It didn't work, and now he felt like someone beat the shit out of him. Tony was too old to be sleeping on the couch for three days in a row.

Barnes was across the room, putting cream in his coffee. He looked up and found Tony and smiled. Tony grinned and waved his hand, marking Barnes looking tired and distracted.

Then Tony saw Banner approaching Barnes with a small box.

"Oh, you're going to love this. Banner knows some weird shit," Natasha smirked.

Banner said something, and Barnes froze, quite comically, holding his cup in the air. Banner talked some more, Barnes listened. Tony knew Banner was a gentle and persuasive guy, so it seemed like he was doing well. But then Barnes put down his cup and ran. Really just ran away.

What happened next was a blur. Tony saw something enormous, menacing and green pass the kitchen, chasing Barnes.

Yes, the hulk came out.

When Tony realized what happened, there was already a massive hole in the wall in the shape of the hulk's fist, and he had Barnes on his shoulder, heading to Banner's lab.

"Ok, I didn't see that coming," Natasha said after those two disappeared out of sight.

"We should do something, right?" Rogers asked.

"Banner's lab has glass walls, we'll get a good view," Bartons said, excited, yesterday's bruises on his face visible.

Natasha gave him a look, and Barton murmured,

"Ok, fine, we'll stop him from killing Barnes."

\--

So, they went to Banner's lab and found out a few things.

First, Banner suggested acupuncture, and then the hulk forced it. Tony agreed with Barnes on running.

Second, Banner's competitive side came out rather suddenly and violently. Tony made a mental note to go easy on him when they play chess. Or anything for that matter.

Third, the hulk had steady hands, and he worked fast. It couldn't have been more than five minutes since Barnes was held hostage, but when they arrived at the lab, Barnes was already tied flat on the table, with at least twenty needles on his face.

Fourth, the hulk was also surprisingly patient. He sat on, 'SAT' on Barnes for three hours to stop him from escaping.

Since no one wanted to take the chance of getting tied down with too many needles in the face next to Barnes, and though violent and dangerous, the big guy seemed like he had no plan to do more than put Barnes to sleep, the team decided to take turns as a look-out.

It was Banner's day, and they should respect the rule of the bet, was what they said to each other.

Tony and Natasha got the first shift. They watched Barnes trying to cut off the rope, using the needle on his face to attack, acting like he was asleep to trick the hulk, and getting caught, again and again, consequently getting more needles as a punishment.

Tony found that the hulk was a strict but fair guard since the number of needles he stuck in Barnes varied on the degree of charges.

Tony admired Barnes's stubborn bravery but felt that his survival instinct needed more attention. Just let him, Tony thought, chewing his toast that tasted like rubber compared to the blueberry muffin he didn't get to have. And then realized, Barnes could see them too and wondered if he should hide.

Thankfully, the hulk's patience ran out after hour number four, and he ran off to god knows where. It happened on Barton's watch, but Barton later argued he had to stay away since Barnes, looking like the saddest and the most pissed off hedgehog in the world, was in the worst mood ever, though considering the situation, it was somewhat understandable.

Barnes was left alone to remove the needles.

\--

'Don't kill him.' was added to the 'No' list.

Later Barnes found the list and underlined it three times.

\--

Bags of ice were waiting for Barnes on the table.

"You'll live," Tony helped Barnes put ice on his shoulder.

"I'm going to kill him," Barnes said, clenching his teeth.

"It's impossible to kill him. If you want more pain and suffering, be my guest," Tony stated.

"You. Didn't help," Barnes claimed.

"I want you to sleep too."

"Liar. You like to watch me suffer. You all do."

"Well, I did like watching you tied down."

It slipped off Tony's tongue, and he wanted to slap himself immediately.

"At least it's over," Tony added, praying Barnes didn't get it.

Barnes stopped, and it sent a chill down Tony's spine. He was thinking of an excuse frantically when Barnes said, "Wait, I came in."

"Yeah, genius."

"How?"

"Ah, I put your info in the system," Tony cleared his throat.

"You did what?" Barnes grinned.

"You kept breaking in. I had to do something. Come and go as you please. Just..."

"Don't touch anything?" Barnes smiling had a dangerous effect on Tony.

"Yeah."

Barnes handed Tony a familiar paper bag. When Tony opened it, there were at least ten muffins, crammed in, all blueberry. And one blueberry scone as if it was a backup.

"Where?" Tony sighed.

"The bakery with some french name."

Yes, it was Tony's favorite bakery, and he doesn't like sweets and the only thing sweet in the whole fucking universe he could stomach for breakfast was a blueberry muffin and actually kind of liked it and kind of needed it after a night like yesterday and there was no possible way for Barnes to know all that except maybe he saw Natasha taking it from him this morning, but he was far away so how could he possibly know what kind of muffin it was and then he got ambushed by the hulk and probably lost his mind with the needles but made the time to find the god damn place, go, pay, come back to give it to him and Tony was definitely not freaking out imagining a deadly 200 pound all muscle soldier who could kill with his bare hand standing in line at a small french bakery with ten muffins and one scone just in case.

"Go sit on your couch," Tony grumbled.

"Why? You don't like it?" Barnes asked.

"I love it," Tony said, clenching his teeth, proud of himself for not shouting.

"Your tone says otherwise."

"Shush. Go. Couch. Now," Tony pointed at Barnes and then at the couch.

Tony took a bite, and it was right and sweet and great. He thought, why, why, why, then he heard no movement from Barnes.

"Barnes?"

"The couch."

Tony moved the couch to face his worktable after blankly staring at the empty wall last night. He thought Barnes might want something else than a grey wall to stare at while hiding from his loving co-workers. And Tony couldn't deny he wanted to see what Barnes was doing.

"Yeah, good for feng shui. It's supposed to be better. That's north, so," Tony rambled with half of a muffin in his mouth, then sensed something wrong.

"Hey, you ok?"

"Yeah." A bit late to respond.

"Barnes."

"Tony, I'm good. I just didn't expect it."

Barnes smiled, but his tone stopped Tony from asking more questions.

\--

Fucking muffin and fucking Barnes shook Tony, but nothing beats work. Tony had things to do, so he did it. It was dark when Tony's stomach grumbled.

"Hey, you want to eat something?" Tony said as he turned to Barnes.

And Tony almost slapped his forehead and shout some swear words, but he couldn't because,

Barnes was asleep.

Of course, he was sleeping. Now that Tony knew, he got disappointed in himself genuinely that it took three full days for him to find out. And found out accidentally.

Barnes slept on the couch and didn't want Tony to notice. That was why Barnes was disturbed when he saw Tony moved it.

The muffins induced deep panic from Tony because it was crazy that Barnes knew everything, but that was not all.

First, the shit food Barnes made, then coffee from Tony's favorite coffee place, and today, magic muffins. Barnes bringing things for Tony was confusing but sweet. Yet Tony had a vaguely troubling feeling because he sensed some sort of obligation from Barnes.

Now it became clear. Barnes could sleep here for whatever reason, and just so he could keep coming, he brought things Tony might like. It was a typical exchange, give and take; everyone did it. But Barnes thinking he needed a reason to be here bothered Tony.

It was like having a cat, Tony thought. A very moody yet lovely cat. Tony never got the appeal of a pet. They looked pretty but too high maintenance; responsibility Tony couldn't handle. But now that he mysteriously and unintentionally got one, his opinions seemed to be changing.

But why can he sleep here? Did the dull grey wall work? The constant noise of Tony working served as a sort of white noise? Because he thought Tony wasn't in the bet?

Tony didn't know what to do, so he attempted to keep working, but he couldn't.

Barnes asleep was something Tony never pictured really. Tony imagined Barnes doing other stuff, a lot, but not Barnes sleeping.

He looked younger, vulnerable. Yeah, we all do when we sleep, Tony thought.

But with Barnes's hair falling and lips slightly apart, his expression soft, breathing in and out quietly, Tony couldn't help but think, it was different. Barnes was always painfully on guard, keeping his distance, so it was good to see him like this.

After a few minutes, Tony realized this was probably the creepiest thing he did in his life and stopped, tried to work, failed to concentrate, cleaned his tools.

Then Tony heard something. A whine, at first. Barnes was sweating and mumbling something Tony couldn't understand. The tranquility and vulnerability that surrounded Barnes were gone at once. Tony knew it was not a good sign. A bad dream.

Tony instantly took a step toward Barnes but remembered Barnes didn't want Tony to know. Tony didn't want to get rid of one safe thing Barnes had. So Tony waited, trying to ignore wetness appearing on Barnes's closed eyes.

It took ten agonizing minutes for Barnes to stop.

Barnes sucked in a sharp breath as he woke up, in full soldier mode, ready to go at once. Tony turned his back, wearing a headphone with no music on.

Barnes stayed for a few minutes to keep his breath straight then tried to sneak out.

"Rude," Tony said lightly, "No good-bye? You're breaking my heart."

"I didn't want to bother you," Barnes said, his voice hoarse.

Tony faced Barnes, and plainly asked, "Why aren't you sleeping, soldier?"

"You're one to talk."

"Yeah, but I'm me. And you lose sleep in old age," Tony winked.

Barnes laughed, and his expression softened. He thought for a while, then said quietly, "I get nightmares."

It took some time for Barnes to continue.

"I don't know if it's just a nightmare. Maybe it's what I've done."

Barnes hesitated for a bit, but he said it straight, looking into Tony's eyes. Tony liked that about Barnes. He was generally shy and rarely spoke up, but when he spoke up, he told the truth and didn't hide from it.

Tony didn't ask more and tossed a red bull to Barnes, "Tomorrow's Thor's turn. Get ready."

\--

Tony planned to go up to the penthouse, order some take-out, sleep in his bed like a functioning human being. But he ended up eating a few more muffins and laid down on the couch. It was his couch but felt more like Barnes's now.

When they made the rule, they agreed there was no way to find out exactly how long Barnes slept, so Friday was picked as a fair judge. Consequently, she was banned from saying anything else than whether that person won or lost.

"Friday, tell me how long Barnes slept here."

Tony swore he felt Friday raising her eyebrows.

"Please?"

"Hour and twelve minutes, sir."

Good girl.

"And before?"

"Forty-five. Thirty-two. Fifty-seven. In that order, sir."

"Ok, follow Barnes. And keep track of how much he sleeps and report to me."

Tony definitely felt Friday crossing her arms, so he added, "Pretty please?" which worked but barely. He considered rewriting the code for a non-judgemental version then realized that it was no fun.

Tony didn't yet figure out how the super-soldier thing worked, but he was sure Barnes looked weaker every day.

How much longer could Barnes hang on?


	4. Chapter 4

The day after the Banner mishap was pretty quiet, compared to the days before. Banner still missing, Rogers and Natasha training, Barton with his family. Tony had a few meetings back to back but checked with Friday on Barnes a couple of times. Barnes's day was quiet, slept for about two hours, divided into three cases of leaning on three different walls and tables.

In the evening, the team had the once a month Team 'Barbeque Sunday.' Fucking Rogers.

The night air was fresh, and the weather was just right. Tony sent the staff home early, so they were the only ones on the roof.

Rogers was on the grill, making everyone a very well-done steak, claiming that it was vulgar to eat something bloody and consequently had to have a long and loud discussion with Thor. Natasha was at the bar, making cocktails to compensate for her poor cooking skills. Tony tried one of her 'Original' cocktails and settled on beer. Barton was in charge of music, his taste unexpectedly turning out to be sticky romantic love songs.

Tony was tired because of his busy day, but the beer was cold, food was good, he also thought blood on the plate was unappetizing, music was tolerable, and even though they were bickering all over the place, everything seemed fine and those days were rare.

Barnes was sitting on the bar stool with a cup of coffee, which Natasha spiked with rum. They were discussing how to find Banner, but with different motives. Natasha missed him, Barnes's aim was to kill him. Tony sat next to them, wondering if he should tell he put a GPS tracker on Banner, and Banner was staying low in fucking Florida for some reason Tony refused to look into.

Barnes looked good. Two hours of sleep worked wonders for him. A pleasantly cool wind blew Barnes's hair, and Tony wanted to brush it away, tuck it behind his ears. He could feel the softness of Barnes's hair and his smooth face on his fingertips, even though he never touched those. Tony should stop drinking.

Thor attacked from behind and stole the coffee mug from Barnes. Barnes gave his best 'How dare you,' look but didn't work. Most things didn't work on Thor. Then Thor pulled out a suspicious-looking bottle containing thick pink liquid.

When their bet started, Thor announced he didn't need all day, bragging he had a 'sure thing.'

"You will have this instead," Thor said, and Tony guessed Barnes was trying to say hell no, but couldn't because Thor pulled Barnes's head back and spilled the liquid in Barnes's shocked open mouth in one smooth move.

"That's not... ok at all," Tony mumbled, watching Barnes cough.

Tony thought Barnes was about to lose it, but then Barnes tipped his head and licked his lips with a curious look.

"What is it?"

"It's a special drink from Asgard," Thor said, gulping down the suspicious liquid.

"Alcohol doesn't work on me," Barnes stated.

"Oh, it will," Thor smirked and gave some to Rogers, who also wanted a buzz.

\--

The party continued. Barnes looked like his usual self. Until he wasn't.

"Thor's a dick," Barnes said as he fell next to Tony on the couch. Thor's weird drink seemed to be working. Well, Tony didn't get the chance, but Barnes sleeping was a win itself.

The couch was wonky, and Barnes moved into Tony until they were almost cuddling. Tony could feel Barnes's body's warmth. Barnes looked up at him, blinking slowly, his eyelids heavy, and there was a slight pink blush showing on his face. The color looked good on him.

They were dangerously close. Tony's first thought was he had to leave right now. Or stay here forever. Barnes made him want two things in flat contradiction. It was becoming a problem.

Therefore, Tony murmured, "I'm going to get another drink," and stood up to find Barnes holding the edge of his shirt.

"You want something from the bar?" Tony asked, and Barnes shook his head but didn't let go.

"Come back?" Barnes asked, his eyes wide and blush on his face deepening. Tony thought vaguely, but with outright rage and passion, that none of this was fair.

"Where would I go?" Tony took Barnes's hand off gently, noting Barnes's hand was too warm.

Tony searched for Thor and found him doing the lift the Mjölnir game thing again with Rogers. Every god damn time.

"Enough of that. Rogers, you lose, Thor, you win. Barnes is acting strange, and he has a fever," Tony said, and Rogers stared blankly.

Rogers was drunk, which didn't often happen, super-soldier metabolism, and that meant the questionable drink was pretty fucking intense. Tony took the problematic bottle from Thor, opened the lid, and immediately frowned. The strong smell burned even from a distance.

"Leave the hammer thing and come on," Tony snarled.

They found Barnes sitting next to Barton with a plate of ribs and a cold beer. Barnes's eyes were closed, and Tony saw the smug grin on Thor's face. But Barnes had an odd look on his flushed face, and he was breathing shallow.

Barton, oblivious, was about to take a bite when Barnes opened his eyes. Barnes grabbed Barton's shirt and tugged him towards him, making Barton say, annoyed, "You're not going to let me eat now? What's next?"

That's when something primal in Tony told him to shout 'No!' He didn't get the chance because Barnes blew his mind.

Turned out "What's next?" was the worst thing Barton could've said, because,

Barnes kissed Barton on the cheek. And it was a long, wet one.

Barton froze and dropped the hot plate right on his lap. Barnes didn't stop there, he leaned in and whispered something directly to frozen Barton's ear. Barton blushed, hard. Tony never saw that color on his face, in fact, any living human's face.

Whisper continued, and Barton was speechless, motionless. Tony was sure Barton lost his ability to move. It felt like the whispering went on and on like it would never end until Barton exploded, but thankfully it did have an end.

Barnes leaned back, satisfied as if he did his mission right. Barton barely got back together and managed to grumble, "Fuck you," but Tony definitely heard his voice break.

Barton bolted, his shirt and jeans stained with sauce, leaving everything behind him, possibly including his sanity. Barton muttered, "I'm fucking married, for fuck's sake," when he passed by Tony.

Rogers, drunk and obviously not on top of the situation, headed to Barnes, and Tony stopped him.

"No, no, no, no. No one goes near him until we find out what the fuck is..."

But drunk Rogers was not only stupid but also very confident.

"I got this," he said, pushing Tony away.

Tony couldn't believe these idiots were supposed to serve and protect. They couldn't defend themselves from whatever Barnes became right now.

"Hey Buck, you ok?"

Rogers bent down, which was a mistake. Barnes grabbed Rogers by the collar and drew him in, and Rogers was on Barnes's lap in a flash. Barnes did the same, 'way too close mystery whispering' to him. And Tony was sure something inside Rogers just died.

Natasha joined with a drink in her hand, interested but somehow not that surprised by the colossal fuck Thor created.

"Oh, Barnes's going to destroy everyone here," Natasha grinned.

"How the fuck do you know?"

Natasha sipped her awful drink oh so elegantly and winked.

"There was an exciting night in my, um, earlier encounters with him. If you ask nicely, I'll tell you."

"Your lipstick looks horrible," Tony replied stiffly.

"Fine, some shit drugged him wrong, and he was like that. I didn't fuck him, by the way, so stop looking at me like that."

"I don't care," Tony grumbled but doubted it got through her.

Tony made a mental note to never let Barnes near any kind of alcohol.

Rogers got away from Barnes by tearing himself back with force. Tony thought, just one more minute and the annoyingly protective and obsessive weird relationship between those two would've shattered.

Rogers's shirts almost ripped from Barnes's strong and insistent grip. He staggered back somehow in one piece and finally slumped next to them. Maybe Tony should get a blanket or something and put it on Rogers.

"What did he say?" Natasha asked, and Rogers buried his face in his hands. And was that a muffled swear Tony was hearing from Captain' Language 'America? "Fuck, fuck, fuck." to be exact? It was likely that Rogers really needed that blanket.

"Yeah, I know. You can never un-hear it. This won't work, but help yourself," Natasha handed Rogers the awful drink she made, which Rogers gulped down at once.

After breaking two soldiers to pieces with only words, Barnes sat patiently, drowsy and relaxed, as if he was waiting for the next victim. They watched Barnes from a distance, a deadly soldier with a deadlier weapon they had no clue how to handle.

Thor, who was fidgeting behind them the whole time, took a step forward. Tony blocked him, which turned out to be quite intimidating, Thor being a fucking god and at least a head taller than him, but Tony had no other choice.

"No, this is all because of you," Tony snapped.

"But I want to know," Thor whined.

"No! You're on time out. Go sit. Now," Tony shouted.

Thor mumbled, "Fine," and sat with his arms crossed, and Tony never thought a 6 feet 6-inch god with a magic hammer and crazy biceps could look like a cranky seven-year-old.

Tony made another mental note to put bugs on everyone's weapons on their next mission. Thor had his own thing, so he was never under Tony's charge, and he didn't have a clue how that fucking hammer works, but Tony was going to find a way.

"What the fuck are we going to do with him?" Tony asked.

"Fuck him. That'll shut him right up," Natasha said plainly.

"Natasha!" Rogers went white.

"If you guys won't, maybe I'll take a shot," She ran her tongue slowly over her lips, and Tony knew she was simply fucking with Rogers, but Natasha was getting a water gun. Let her fight with that.

"I've seen this. It's not dangerous. He'll sober up eventually," Natasha admitted.

"When?" Tony asked.

"A few hours?"

While they were arguing what to do, Barnes, clearly looking for his next victim, came to Tony and stood still right behind him. Tony learned it by Natasha bursting into laughter and Rogers jumping, and most of all, a soft brush of breath on the back of his neck. Tony almost squealed but saved his dignity by a razor-thin margin.

Barnes was staring at him, and Tony didn't know if he should run or stay. Again with the contradiction. Barnes opened his mouth to say something, and.

Rogers lifted Barnes up and put his pliant body on his shoulder.

"He's going to his room, and I'm locking him in," Rogers said.

It would seem like a rational option if Barnes didn't grab Rogers's ass, dangling from upside down.

"No!" Tony shouted.

If Rogers fucks Barnes Tony was going to burn this whole place down.

"Then what?" Rogers asked, trying and failing to dodge Barnes's persistent attempt to grab his ass, but Tony had no viable option.

Rogers was getting vivid pink spandex next time. Tony decided to mix the color himself, make sure enemies could spot him from miles away.

"What, you want him to break out and fuck a stranger? Or you going to do it yourself?" Natasha demanded, and Rogers shut his mouth and quickly put Barnes back down.

Maybe no water gun for Natasha.

Barnes sat on the couch like a well-behaved, good boy, waiting for them to make a decision. And though from far he seemed happy and relaxed, non-threatening, Rogers and Barton argued that he was, in fact, very dangerous and refused to participate if he wasn't locked down.

So, they tied Barnes down. Took turns watching him until he sobers up. Again.

\--

Tony made a list of elaborate revenge plans on Thor for a few hours, and when the plan number hit twelve, he went to do his shift with tied down, horny Barnes with no filter.

He found Barnes released, snuggling against Natasha. Tony gave her a suspicious look, and Natasha defended herself, holding both hands on the air.

"I didn't do anything. He's almost sober, and his wrist hurt."

"I didn't say anything."

"You didn't have to."

"Whatever. Go. Rest," Tony sighed and sat far away from them.

"Ok, I'm giving you this because you're pathetic, and I'm feeling generous tonight," Nathasha said, stroking Barnes's hair.

"Fuck off," Tony spat out, his eyes not leaving that fucking hand.

"Always so classy," She took her hand off and continued.

"This thing Barnes does, it's not like 'Come on my face, so I could lick it off.' or 'Fuck me inside out.' or 'Don't stop until I cry' or 'Spit on my..."  
  
"Jesus fucking christ, stop, why are you doing this to me?" Tony cut her off before he dies.

"It's just aggressive compliments. Don't worry. But it is, I mean this, it is very aggressive, very," Natasha smirked.

"Shut up," Tony grumbled.

Natasha whispered something to Barnes and gestured Tony to come close. Tony reluctantly sat where she was, which was way too close.

"Just talk to him, ok?" Natasha said, running her fingers through Tony's hair as she walked away.

"Nat."

"What?"

"I was lying about the lipstick."

"I know," Natasha took a bottle of wine from the bar and left, barefoot, holding her stilettos.

Barnes curled up next to him, awake. The poison Thor made him drink wasn't strong enough to put him to sleep.

Barnes blinked slowly, looking at Tony like he was meeting him for the first time. Then Barnes recognized him, and his expression softened.

"Hey," Barnes said, beaming. Tony's mouth went dry at his smile.

"It's been a long day, huh?" Tony said to fill the silence.

"It was?" Barnes said, confused.

Thank god, he didn't remember.

"Please don't remember any of this," Tony pleaded to god he didn't believe in.

But Tony also realized if Barnes found out what happened, what he would do to Thor would be much worse than whatever Tony could think of, and that made him feel a little better. Tony considered just telling him what happened to see Thor suffer. Let's see how things go first.

"I won't. If you don't want me to," Barnes said.

"That's not how it works," Tony laughed.

"I'll try hard."

Barnes gazed at him dreamily. And Tony didn't know what pushed him. Maybe it was the stress, or the alcohol, or this unusual night that led him here.

The wind mussed Barnes's hair, and Tony brushed it off of his face gently. Barnes's low voice and the softness of his skin and the teasing touch made Tony feel like he was dreaming. He should stop, but he kept stroking Barnes's warm cheek, thinking, just a little more. Barnes leaned into the touch, and Tony sighed when he eventually took his hands off.  
  
"You're the strangest person I've ever met," Barnes said.

"You're one to say," Tony replied.

"I can't figure you out."

"Same here, soldier."

Suddenly, Tony saw a spark in Barnes's eyes.

"Tony, What do you want from me?" Barnes asked.

"I..." Tony was lost with words.

Barnes looked at Tony closely, as if he could find the answer by intense stares. Tony wished it would work, so Barnes could find it and tell him.

"I don't know," Tony admitted quietly.

"I think you should know," Barnes said.

"Yeah, maybe I should," Tony sighed.

It was near sun up. The wind, once pleasantly cool, was now close to cold, and Tony could see goosebumps rising in Barnes's arm. Tony found the old scars on Barnes's arm, neck, and his eyes landed on Barnes's lips. Tony studied it for a while, fixated at the color and a bit of moisture on the lower lip, then Tony found Barnes was watching him. Barnes's gaze was soft but stubborn, following Tony's own.

Would he remember this tomorrow?

"Now, I get a question. I know you sleep in my workshop. Why?"

"I trust you."

The answer came fast. Tony's reply took a bit longer.

"Why?"

"I just do."

"I tried to kill you. Almost succeeded."

"But you didn't. And you had plenty of chances."

"How do you know I'm not going to try again?"

"Experience. Observation," Barnes smiled and yawned.

"You're going to forget all of this, right?" Tony grinned.

"No, I'm going to remember."

"Really?" Tony watched Barnes trying to fight sleepiness.

"Yeah, the important part. I'm going to remember the important part."

Barnes closed his eyes, his lips pouted invitingly, and Tony wanted to do so many things, but he stopped because Barnes finally fell asleep.

Tony went to the bar for a drink. Natasha made a mess, but Tony found a semi-decent scotch and drank it straight from the bottle.

Yes, Barnes was right. Tony should know. Why he kept Barnes in arm's reach but didn't close it. Insisted that exact distance between them.

Tony found a blanket, and when he came back, Barnes was awake again, looking far away.

"Barnes, you know you're going to have to sleep eventually, right?" Tony put the blanket on him.

"I just dreamed of a boy I killed because he was there when I shot his mother," Barnes said like he was doing a mission report.

Fuck.

"Barnes, You ok?" Tony asked, knowing the answer.

Barnes looked at him with his eyes wide and wet. Tony didn't know what grasped him, but he couldn't seem to remember how to breathe.

After a moment, Barnes said softly,

"No."

Barnes closed his eyes as if he wanted to shut the world off. 

Tony stayed with Barnes drifting in and out of sleep. When Barnes slept for more than five, ten minutes, Tony gently put his hand on Barnes's lap to wake him up. Barnes gave the same look of gratitude every time he woke up.

Barton came to do his shift, already blushing and saying something to himself that sounded a bit like a prayer. Tony sent Barton away, who looked relieved and runs. Tony will make use of him someday.

But now, Tony sat beside Barnes.

\--

"No magic" and "No poison" in the list got one more star each.

Tony later learned they've made a fatal mistake of not gagging Barnes, and he did some damage. Thor and Rogers were too afraid to go near him to silence him. When asked, Thor blushed and refused to talk about it, Rogers's poor spirit died again. Natasha thoroughly enjoyed her time, recorded what Barnes said, and threatened to make it her ring tone unless Tony made her some better toys.

Barnes didn't do the sexy talk to Tony. He didn't know what to think of it.

\--

The sound of the door sliding open made Tony flinch. It had to be Barnes. Although Tony had been waiting for him all day, he was nervous nevertheless.

"Hey," Tony tried casually and carefully watched Barnes to see if he remembered anything.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Barnes said, frowning.

"What?"

"Everyone's acting strange today."

Barnes didn't remember. Tony was relieved at first but then felt a slight disappointment. Barnes raised a questioning eyebrow, and Tony asked just so he could change the subject.

"What's my present today?"

Barnes put a sizable box on the table. Tony opened the box and sucked in a short breath.

"These are yours, right?"

It was the prototypes that Tony made for the team. Their return rate was very low. They said they lost it in the battle, and since there were so many more toys to make, Tony shrugged off and moved on to the next thing.

"I thought they lost it."

"No, They steal and lie. I've been trying to get these after I saw Barton playing with his. I don't know what changed, but today, when I asked, they gave it to me. Barton's still an asshole, though. He threw his thing at me."

Tony burst into laughter, imagining Barton giving whatever Barnes wants just to get rid of him.

"You're welcome, and you guys are weird," Barnes walked to his couch.

\--

Barnes took off after taking a short nap. Before he left, Barnes stood at the door for a while. Tony kept working with his headphones on, music off with his back turned.

"I do trust you," Barnes said.

After the door closed, Tony grabbed the edge of the table to stop from falling and thought,

Fuck, I'm in love.


	5. Chapter 5

Tony had his share of love affairs.

The shit tabloids weren't entirely wrong. Even without counting many boyfriends and girlfriends to be generous, Tony was engaged four times and luckily broke off the engagements before the big day.

However, on one unfortunate occasion, too much alcohol and a melt-down caused by his unusual inventor's block, plus the opposite party having distracting voodoo blowjob skill, drove him to follow through. Then Tony had to get a rather expensive annulment with Happy frowning the whole time and Pepper refusing to talk to him until the process was done. Though Tony could literally read on Pepper's face of her screaming, "You're an asshole, and also, I told you so!"

What Tony did was take things apart, figure what each one does, find its strengths and weaknesses, and fix it. It made his career possible, and it worked on his dating life as well.

Tony was a fun, romantic partner. He did his research and figured out what that person wanted and gave it to them. He took his partners on spontaneous trips, gave them surprising and thoughtful gifts, and Tony was lovely and generous in bed, he was told.

To be honest, being romantic was a bit easier when you have money. Money not only bought presents but also bought assistants to take care of menial tasks like planning anniversary dates and managing trip itineraries.

Making them fall for Tony was easy. The hard part was keeping them.  
The first couple of months was always great. But then Tony's swagger and confidence, charm lost effect, and they found a distant, cold, self-absorbed billionaire with significant issues.

The rich boy who didn't get enough hugs when little having intimacy issues was a given. But as many people knew, to Tony, the tragic story didn't end there. Before he got the chance to get forced family therapy and do some fucking damage on damn Howard, Howard tragically died taking his mother with him, leaving Tony with a fortune with no guidance and plenty of enemies with agendas.

More than a few heartbreaks, faux-friends leading him to bad investments, a couple of notable instances of Tony almost getting killed later, he was left with huge trust issues. Not to mention his insecurity and inability to function as a normal human being, when he was young, he confused friendship with love, then sex with love.

No wonder his lovers left. His ex-lovers gave him various reasons, but the main reasons were the same. Tony was distant, he wouldn't let them in, and he put work before them. He was lucky in a way that he was with smart, sharp people that could see through his bullshit and had the decency to leave.

After a lot of public break ups and disastrous consequences, Tony gave up on love. Tony became a middle-aged man with some reputation and no partner, but he didn't regret it. He was now happy with his life, occasionally dating attractive, intelligent dates and having casual sex with NDA form attached.

His forever one true love was his work, and work never betrayed, cheated, or wanted more than Tony was willing to give.

So, this thing with Barnes, Tony had no idea how to handle it.

The next day was supposed to be Tony's. After pacing around like a mad man all night, Tony decided there was only one option.

Run.

Tony flew to Bangkok for a meaningless conference under the pretext of an excuse. He stayed there for four days without a word to the ones back in the Tower. During those four nights, Tony was with four different famous people on very public dates. They got plenty of photos taken, and his dates made the front page in pretty much every tabloid.

Yes, that's who I am, Tony thought bitterly, looking at the collage of photos of him kissing them with the headline bashing him as a comeback playboy.

Tony avoided any contact from the Tower, but Pepper eventually found him and put him in the jet back to the Tower, followed by a very loud and hysterical one-sided fight.

\--

Hungover from the loud party last night, Tony wanted to crawl somewhere dark and quiet and wait for his death peacefully, so he chose his workshop. Tony was gone for just a few days, but at least the bet was over. Stay away from Barnes, and he could get through it. He did it before. And suddenly, Tony sensed someone in the dark.

"Welcome back."

Tony dropped his gun on the table and swore.

"Fuck, Barnes. I almost shot you," Tony said, walking directly to the kitchen for a drink. Fuck his hangover, he earned it.

"No, you seriously need to take some lessons."

Tony seriously considered picking the gun and shooting himself just to get out of this. Not in the head, that would be too dramatic. Maybe his leg or his arm. Tony was willing to give those up.

"I have my suit," Tony grumbled and decided he would cancel the next morning's meetings and poured two fingers more.

"But you're not always in it."

Barnes took Tony's glass of scotch away, then the whole bottle, ignoring Tony's struggle to protect it.

"Why?" Tony whined, but Barnes put two aspirins in Tony's palm and held a glass of water in front of him.

"I don't like it when people hand me things," Tony mumbled, staring at the magically appeared pills in his hand.

"I know," Barnes poured the very expensive scotch in the sink, then smiled at him, and Tony learned that non-stop dating and partying didn't even make a dent to the dangerous effect of Barnes's smile on him.

"You satisfied?" Tony grumbled, taking the pill.

"Very."

Tony found Chinese take-out spread out on the table. It was Tony's hangover food. Barnes pushed one of the boxes towards Tony and waited for him to open it, and of course, it was his favorite.

"It's my welcome back gift," Barnes said, waiting for Tony to take a bite.

Tony was too hungover for whatever Barnes was planning, but Barnes was seemingly not going to let it go, and Tony at least needed something greasy, and the food looked good.

"Ok, what happened?" Tony asked, taking a bite.

\--

Tony thought since he was the last one to go and everyone failed to put Barnes to sleep, the bet ended with him giving up his turn. But clearly, they do need a war like Barnes said before because the rest of the Avengers were insane, bored, and competitive as fuck, the worst combination possible.

They kept the bet going without Tony.

\--

Rogers, who failed to tire Barnes out with excessive training, chose the opposite, meditation. He took Barnes to a quiet, dark, cool room with way too many candles, decorated with some flower petals for a calming effect Rogers read on a questionable site and supposedly relaxing music.

Barnes freaked out.

Barnes cringed at the rumor that they were lovers of the century and denied fiercely every chance he got, but Rogers was acting weird for the reason that Barnes didn't know, but Tony did. The issue of Thor's evil drink. Barnes thought Rogers was trying to...

"Fuck you?" Tony asked, grinning and Barnes yelped.

"Never, ever say that again," Barnes mumbled, his face buried in his hands.

They did breathing exercises, following a creepy woman's voice from the meditation tape Rogers chose. On hour number two, Rogers fell asleep.

Rogers later woke up in the middle of the night with a blanket on him and found Barnes in the communal kitchen, reading a spy novel with a cup of coffee and dinner for him prepared by Natasha as a punishment.

Rogers later told Tony that it was the best sleep he had in years. And the food almost killed him.

\--

Natasha did yoga with him.

The sight of them doing yoga together attracted a sizable crowd. It was supposed to be relaxing, but things got competitive quick. They started to do increasingly tricky ones, and some dreadful pose called 'Destroyer of the Universe,' which Tony couldn't even imagine and was afraid to google broke her.

Natasha had to take the next day off.

Tony later got some photos Barton took. Barnes was sweating half-naked and doing lovely things with his body, and although he was all muscle, he was also surprisingly flexible.

Tony accepted the fact that the images were carved in his memory forever. He would think of it in his death bed.

Tony made copies of those and put it in a folder named 'Financial Reports 2013' and realized later that was what people do with their porn.

\--

Barton, who couldn't stay in the same room with Barnes without blushing out of his mind, outsourced the job. Barton hired a top-notch sleep therapist.

After two hours with Barnes, the poor therapist left his legs shaking and refused to talk about it.

"I had to," Barnes defended himself, guilt written all over his face.

But then he added, "He might sue," grinning and Tony decided he really should get a legal and press team ready.

\--

Banner returned, and Barnes attacked him while simultaneously trying to fight off the others holding him down, scared that the hulk might come out again.

After the others took Barnes's seven weapons away, which seemed like Barnes produced out of thin air because he was only wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants, Banner apologized, and Barnes accepted on the condition that he gets to do acupuncture on Banner.

It turned out the reason Banner stayed in Florida was that there was a sleep center. Banner took a crash course and was excited to try it.

Banner did an oil massage.

Tony broke his chopsticks at the thought of Barnes naked and covered in oil.

"No!" Barnes shouted, blushing, "Just my head and feet."

"Oh, that makes everything better. Nothing weird about it," Tony grumbled, reaching for another chopstick.

After the session, Barnes, who was more wide awake than ever due to uncomfortable touching, tried acupuncture on Banner and three needles later, the hulk came out.

Barnes showed Tony the massive bruise on his shoulder and proudly said he got to punch the hulk a few times. Barnes looked so pleased Tony didn't tell him it would have little to no impact.

\--

Greasy food and aspirin worked, and Tony finally didn't feel like he was dying when Barnes finished his story.

"Very entertaining and nice to know that you're evil too. But why did you let them do those stuff to you?" Tony asked.

"I figured, I'm not going to sleep anyway, why not make something of it? So, I made them a counteroffer. I gave them a week. If I win, they stay out of my business. Oh, and I'm in the bet too."

\--

The day they decided to start the bet, they argued over which order to go.

Natasha wanted to play a violent punching game. Barton's idea was to hit targets far away with something, for example, an arrow. Thor suggested a complicated five-step Asgardian game that included literally jumping through fire circles. Banner and Tony proposed a science experiment they wanted to do for some time and got dismissed immediately. They settled on a dull rock paper scissors game Rogers submitted.

Then they couldn't decide on the prize.

Natasha suggested punching again. Barton wanted money. Thor chose the Asgardian game, which he wanted to play very much. Rogers felt too guilty to say something. Tony and Banner proposed the science experiment again.

They argued for hours. Why they were called a 'team,' Tony would never know.

By the time they finished take-out pizza and a couple of drinks, everyone was too tired to keep on fighting and agreed to Rogers's "Winning the bet is the prize itself." and went to bed.

\--

"There's no prize. All my pain for nothing," Barnes frowned but soon beamed, "So, I made them an offer."

"What offer?"

"Losers have to do everything they did to me," Barnes grinned.

"That's... genius," Tony said, shocked. "But the winner..."

"Gets to enjoy others suffer," Barnes finished Tony's sentence.

"And they agreed to that?"

"In a heartbeat," Barnes smiled.

Again, how are they called a team?

"Yeah, I can play too."

Barnes's smile was too sweet, and Tony's traitor heart skipped a beat. Barnes still looked unfairly good, but Tony notices Barnes lost a bit of weight, and his dark circles got bigger.

"Well, glad to know you had fun torturing the team," Tony tried to ignore the concern that filled him.

"You had some fun," Barnes blurted out.

"Just a business trip," Tony replied briskly and played with his food, but he could practically hear Barnes raising his eyebrows.

"So, did you get it out of your system?" Barnes asked quietly.

"What?" Tony almost spat out his food, "What are you talking about?" Tony tried to keep his voice calm.

"Natasha said you need to, um, release sometimes. Or you become 'difficult.'"

Tony was one hundred percent sure her choice of word wasn't 'difficult,' and he was going to fucking kill her.

"I met some friends. That's it," Tony strangely felt guilty, and felt like he had to make excuses.

"Hm, such good friends you have," Barnes said casually, but Tony saw him holding back a smile.

"Tasha subscribes to terrible magazines. And I can read, so," Barnes tossed a fortune cookie at him, and another, and another.

"Shut up," Tony tried to dodge, but Barnes was a great shot. Tony got hit every time and couldn't stop grinning.

It was like he never left.

Time Tony spent in Bangkok, surrounded by attractive men and women, parties with loud music and booze felt like nothing after only a few quiet hours with Barnes. His dates were lovely, and sex was good. Tony fucked his dates as if he had to prove something to himself, thinking he was getting over Barnes.

The proof that he failed, not in the least, was right in front of him, drowsy, tired, smiling.

Then Tony noticed Barnes was lingering.

"I have some things to do. If you want to... stay."

Barnes tried to hide it, but Tony got a glimpse of his relief.

"Go, get some rest."

Barnes looked at him for a moment.

"I'm glad your back."

Tony did some overdue work while Barnes napped for a good thirty minutes. He was tired too, soon he snoozed, sitting on the chair.

Tony woke up in the morning on the couch with a blanket on him. Barnes was gone, and two more aspirins, a pot of coffee, two fucking blueberry muffins were on the table. Tony sighed and took the pills first.

"Friday, how long?" Tony asked, knowing he was not going to be happy with her answer.


	6. Chapter 6

One time Barnes came to Tony's workshop after a mission. Rogers and Banner carried him in, unconscious and bleeding all over, his metal arm destroyed.

Barnes went through six-hour surgery under Tony's supervision. The medical team and Tony had to put everything they knew to keep Barnes alive.

They put Barnes under general anesthesia, but unfortunately, he woke up during surgery because no one fully understood his super-soldier body. Tony was standing next to him, keeping an eye on the arm and saw Barnes open his eyes. Before Tony could even move, Barnes got his hands on a scalpel, tried to get away, and almost killed one of the surgeons. Tony had to summon his gadget to bring him down.

It was touch and go, but the medical team stopped the bleeding, and Tony got the chance to fix the arm.

Tony checked Barnes's metal arm a few times before. The hydra made metal arm was, Tony didn't want to admit it, but beauty itself. It was a delicate, complex piece of machine, sharp and deadly, just like Barnes was.

Tony soon learned that making changes to the metal arm in any way was close to impossible and most dangerous to Barnes, and its' weakness, Tony couldn't find any.

While Barnes was in recovery, Tony read the files and wondered how Barnes could get that severe damage, and mainly in his metal arm. Because the mission was an easy, clean one.

Thanks to Barnes's super-soldier recovery, he was up and running in a week. Barnes went to apologize and thank the medical team and came to Tony next. He said he didn't see the bomb and it was all an unfortunate mistake. Unexpected accidents indeed happen on missions, but to a highly trained soldier like Barnes? And especially in an uncomplicated case like this? Tony doubted it.

Tony remembered how Barnes looked at him, and at his own arm when he woke up during the surgery. Tony thought, maybe, Barnes wanted his metal arm gone. 

But Tony wasn't sure, and he couldn't ask.

\--

The bet continued, three days left.

The team was running out of ideas and time, getting more desperate hence wreckless, which was extra dangerous when the parties involved were superheroes with endless resources and absolute passion.

Since Barnes set the prize of the bet, the stake got higher. 

No one wanted to do the god damn triathlon or get poked in their face or go through Banner awkwardly touching them. Their strong wish to avoid suffering drove everyone to manically attack Barnes. They abandoned the one person one day rule and, with great enthusiasm, came at Barnes with all sorts of absurd tactics. And because Barnes, who was in the bet now stopped running and reluctantly participated, chaos ensued.

\--

It was team breakfast day, so Tony made an appearance and thought, this was not what he imagined his mornings to be when these idiots moved in.

Barton was discussing their next steps with Banner on a skype call, Thor was sleeping hunched uncomfortably at the table with a list of ideas written on a notepad in front of him. Tony sneaked a peak, and sadly for Thor, the list was pretty short, but one of the ideas was kidnaping Barnes to Asgard. Tony made a mental note to keep the security tight.

Natasha chased Barnes with another smoothie, and after they ran past Tony, he found a blueberry muffin that magically appeared in his hand again.

Tony looked at it and wondered if he never said anything, would he get this god damn blueberry muffin every morning for the rest of his life by a stubborn and determined Barnes?

Then Rogers sneaked up on Tony, patted him on the shoulder. Tony jumped and dropped his cup, which Rogers, with his crazy reflexes, caught quickly.

"So, your plan?" Rogers asked as he refilled Tony's cup with fresh coffee.

"What?"

Rogers gestured at Barnes, who was bickering with Natasha across the room. Well, looking closely, it wasn't precisely bickering. Instead, Barnes trying to run and Natasha not letting him with such intensity. Eventually, Barnes gave up and drank the thick smoothie, this time, it was green and thankfully didn't contain any mystery chunks.

"I know you. You're not going to leave this one out. You've seen us fail, so I'm sure you've been preparing?" Rogers asked.

I have no idea what to do, was what Tony wanted to say but, instead, he put on a grin,

"Yeah. Get the balloons and confetti ready."

Tony stood up, and Rogers said quietly,

"I'm worried, Tony."

"Me too."

\--

Thor googled unwatchable film and watched it with Barnes. Thor passed out after the first two, but Barnes was so absorbed with it, he bought a 16mm film camera and black and white films and declared he was going to make a documentary film about the Avengers' back story. Phil Colson had a two-hour meeting with him, discussing security.

Barnes brought the camera and films and hid it in Tony's workshop.

\--

Rogers took Barnes to another quiet, dark room, making Barnes freak out again. But instead of candles, there were various color pens and a notebook. Rogers suggested writing things that stress or scare him on that neatly prepared notebook.

Barnes argued it was unfair for only him to do it and bullied Rogers to participate. Barnes pretended to write, then stole Rogers's, ran right back to Tony's workshop.

That was how Tony and Barnes found out Rogers's deep-seated fear of mushy avocados. Turns out, there weren't many in Rogers's time. But Barnes was ok with it so, Tony sent one of his staff to get the mushiest, old, moldy avocados and put it in Rogers's bed.

\--

Natasha took Barnes on a walk, outside, at the central park. 

The weather was perfect for a walk. Tony didn't go with them but sent some of his staff to cover them. Though they were heavily disguised, and if someone was stupid enough to attack fucking Black Widow and the Winter Soldier, it was their funeral, Tony wanted to avoid unnecessary news coverage.

Barnes walked around for a few hours in the sunlight and came back a bit sunburned, beaming, wearing an 'I love New York' T-shirt. Barnes, radiant and shining from his happy walk, couldn't stop smiling, and Tony started to brainstorm what to give Natasha as a reward.

Barnes brought back some hot dogs from the streets and the same 'I Love New York' T-shirt he was wearing for Tony. Tony hated every aspect of both of those but ate the hotdog while wearing the horrid T-shirt anyway.

\--

Thor brought some strong alcohol from his home again, and it was confiscated immediately by Tony and Rogers. The prior devastating experience didn't sink in well. Thor never learned.

Without his magic poison, Thor made Barnes lie down on the bed and intensely stared at him as if that would work. It only made Barnes very uncomfortable. After thirty minutes, Thor got bored and started talking.

Without a gun to his head, Thor gave so many unnecessary and personal details about himself to Barnes, Tony and Barnes decided to write it down for later use, possibly for blackmail purposes.

\--

It wasn't just Thor who had problems with lessons. 

Barton got passed his trauma of Thor's night and brought weed brownies. Tony seriously considered letting him get attacked by horny Barnes again to really teach him a lesson. But Tony wasn't that savage, and Barton did save his life a couple of times, so he switched it with regular brownies.

Barnes came to Tony with a sugar high and attempted to make a full replica of Stark Tower with legos, using Tony's very, very, very expensive special collector's Millenium Falcon Lego set. 

After destroying it, Barnes got tired and dozed off mid-making the first floor of the building. He woke up confused an hour later with lego marks on his face.

\--

Banner didn't come back since he was still grounded, but he called Natasha to introduce a strange new massage.

They did it in Tony's workshop as Barnes' request. It was mostly upper body stuff, but Tony wanted to say, "No touching!" So. Many. Times.

During the massage, Barnes made noises that went straight to Tony's dick.

Tony couldn't decide whether to punish or reward Natasha. Uncertain, he gave the weed brownies to her, which turned out to be quite strong. She spent the whole afternoon lying on the ground, looking at the ceiling, and having a conversation with someone not there in Russian non-stop, which was funny and kind of scary.

\--

Tony canceled all his schedule and worked in his workshop, occasionally checking on Barnes and the team, hoping that he wouldn't find one of them dead. He decided to never, ever make a fucking bet with these lunatics.

And since it was plausible that Barnes was determined to ruin Tony's life, he kept coming back to Tony with gifts.

During the hectic two days, Barnes brought him Rogers's deep shame journal, a horrible 'I love New York' t-shirt, questionable hotdogs, regular brownies which Tony gave to Barton, Thor's odd secrets, and left some notable sexy moans during Natasha's massage that will haunt Tony's dreams.

They ate four meals together, shared a brownie, drank a lot of coffee, plotted some evil schemes against their co-workers, attempted to put the lego back together, and failed. Tony shrugged and ordered more, and also a massive Lego set just in case Barnes got another sugar high.

Barnes slept two to three hours per day, divided by a few times, in between the team's torture, all on Tony's couch.

\--

Barnes came back to Tony at night on day two. The others got tired, and at last, let Barnes go. They sat on the couch side by side and planned the avocado scheme. If Rogers was afraid of mushy avocado, did it mean he was scared of all rotten fruits or the kind that turns brown and soft? But all fruit die that way. How did he survive til now? Then Tony turned to find Barnes dozing off.

Tony watched him sleep and felt something grip him. He didn't even have to think twice about it because he already knew. It was fear.

What would happen after the bet ends? Would Barnes's visits stop? Was Tony confusing friendship and sex with love again?

Barnes had a bad dream not long after, and Tony woke him up gently. They kept going with the list to taunt Rogers like nothing happened until Barnes inevitably was summoned by Thor for another go.

\--

"You survived," Tony said, at the sound of the door sliding open.

Barnes walked to his couch and slumped down without a word.

"What did he do this time?"

"Thor read to me," Barnes grumbled.

"Read?"

"Some Asgardian poetry. It was weird and sexual and awful. And don't go to the kitchen. Tasha's at it again."

Barnes buried his head on his hands, his voice barely audible mixed with muffled groans.

"You're a ray of sunshine," Tony said dryly.

Only low groans came from Barnes.

"You're in a bad mood because you're tired. If you just sleep..." Tony sighed.

"You too?" Barnes acted hurt, and Tony shrugged. 

"You know I always want you sleeping."

Barnes looked more tired and unhappier than ever, so Tony said to change the subject.

"Wait, nothing for me this time? I feel used, Barnes."

Tony said it as a light joke, but Barnes actually looked guilty. Guilty.

Barnes took a piece of crumpled paper out from his pocket and handed it to Tony. Tony couldn't believe what he's holding. It was a recipe for blueberry muffins.

"I went to the bakery you like, and it was just lying there," Barnes said.

"Huh, really? 'Just' 'lying' there?" Tony grinned.

"Ok. I stole it," Barnes admitted, avoiding Tony's eyes.

"Barnes," Tony said in a fake scolding voice.

"It's not like I'm going to set up a shop with it or something. It's just for me. I was going to make it," Barnes protested, but his voice was shy, and a bit of color showed on his cheeks.

"So, you can have it tomorrow morning."

That was so ridiculously sweet, Tony forgot to breathe for a second.

"Then, Tasha's doing something terrible in the kitchen, which I'm going to have to eat by the way." 

With a sigh, Barnes leaned back and closed his eyes.

Though Tony was unquestionably in love with this man, he was grateful that he didn't have to eat that monstrosity. But Barnes looked like a kicked puppy, and Tony was not going to let him.

There was a small kitchen in the workshop. Tony never used it else than maybe make a cocktail or instant noodles once in a while. It was tiny but fully stocked, and Tony could make do.

"Go ahead," Tony said, gesturing at the kitchen.

\--

So, that was how Barnes got to baking in Tony's workshop.

Except Tony watched Barnes trying for ten minutes and had to take over. Tony wouldn't let Barnes touch anything because he gave Barnes a simple task of mixing wet ingredients into dry, which Barnes failed miserably.

"What's so hard about it?" Tony muttered, cleaning up Barnes's mess.

Tony couldn't stop thinking that this was precisely what they did a few months ago. The soft intimacy. Not romantic, Tony thought. It felt like that, it felt domestic, it felt like a date, but it wasn't.

Barnes sat on top of the counter and pushed more blueberry to him.

"More?"

Barnes nodded, reading the recipe, which he clearly didn't understand one bit. Tony put more blueberry in the batter as commanded, folded it one last time, and filled muffin cases.

Yes, Barnes stole the recipe just for Tony. It was a sweet, unfairly sweet gesture, but. Barnes brought Tony gifts because he needed the workshop to sleep. That was the rule Barnes set. 

But there were only two of them in a closed space, and fucking Friday put on some mellow love songs, and the soft light hit Barnes right. And Barnes was just there, within arms reach.

Tony couldn't stop sneaking glances at Barnes. 

How Barnes's lips pouted when he focused, and the soft lines appearing on the side of his eyes when he frowned, trying to figure out the recipe. 

How he carelessly picked up the leftover blueberries and tasted it, leaving a pale purple smudge on his lips and fingers. How he licked it off of his fingers, revealing a bit of teasing reddish-pink tongue. 

How he casually brushed a lock of hair off, revealing his neat forehead. How he smelled great, on such a cruel level, leaving Tony to want to bury his face and just breathe in.

Tony wanted to grab and shake Barnes to ask if he was doing it on purpose. But when Tony saw him, the smile Barnes gave was innocent as fuck.

Barnes jumped off the counter and leaned close from behind, trying to see the muffin tins over Tony's shoulder. Tony sensed Barnes's light, warm breath on his back of the neck, and felt his dick jump.

"Space!" Tony yelled.

"Sorry," Barnes said, sheepishly and stepped back a little, still too close for Tony to remain sane.

Tony thought this was very, very wrong. If he got a boner from this, he was definitely going to commit suicide.

The batter went in the oven, and Barnes said suddenly,

"Hey, look at me."

"Why?"

Tony felt Barnes's careful gaze following him and prayed to every god he could think of, please don't blush, please.

"You're in this bet, too, aren't you?" Barnes said, his gaze stuck on Tony.

Shit. At least the possible creepy boner was gone in a second. Tony considered lying for a moment but figured it wouldn't work, so he said straightforward, "Yes."

"Traitor!" Barnes shouted.

"So, what's your plan?" Barnes was already backing off, ready to defend himself from whatever crazy thing Tony must be planning, "Did you put something in the batter?"

Barnes backed off and got in full soldier mode as if the sad uncooked batter in the oven would attack him. Tony felt sorry for Barnes for what his loving co-workers did these few days that drove a perfectly normal and handsome yet sleep-deprived soldier to become this paranoid.

"I have no plan. Well, I had some ideas at first, but it's ultimately your call," Tony said.

"Really?" Barnes asked, still suspicious.

"Yeah, but," Tony continued.

"There it is. The 'but.'"

Tony went to the storage space and came back with a small chip, slid it to Barnes, who poked it with a spoon as if he was expecting it to blow up.

"That's one of the core chips I made for your arm," Tony started.

"I can't build you a new one right now. I've been trying, but it's going to take some time. That one kind of works but not good enough."

Barnes was staring at the chip, standing still, making Tony anxious.

"It's a, um, promise," Tony cleared his throats.

"Promise?" Barnes asked.

"Yes, a promise that I'll make you a new one."

Barnes picked up the chip, stared at it, and then at Tony.

"Something for you to hold on until then," Tony said, now worried he might have crossed the line.

"Why are you giving this to me?"

"It's a gift."

Next time Tony met Rogers, he was going to punch him hard in the face, because his supposedly best friend forever looked like he never got a gift before.

Then Barnes beamed. Just beamed at him and then gave a shy, happy smile. Tony thought it was unfair. 

What could he possibly do when Barnes looks like that?

This was Tony's secret private project, but he decided he would gather his whole tech team, hire every semi-talented engineer in this city, and not stop until the arm is made. 

Fuck it. Fuck security. Fuck other projects, it was all irrelevant now. Tony was going to make that damn arm even if it killed him.

"I thought you needed a new beginning," Tony continued, thinking of what steps to take tomorrow morning at 9 am sharp.

"A new beginning," Barnes repeated slowly.

"Yes, Something fresh."

"You want to fix me," Barnes said quietly.

"What? Yes, your arm," Tony answered, preoccupied.

"No, you want to fix me, like other guys."

Barnes looked odd, and it took a second for Tony to realize what it was because he never saw it on Barnes. It was sadness. Tony's heart sank.

"I thought you weren't like them," Barnes said almost silently, looking down at his feet.

"Barnes, do you think you're broken?" Tony managed to say.

"What do you think?" Barnes mumbled.

Tony never expected this. He wanted to say, "You're not broken," but he didn't know that. Tony had no choice but to wait, nervously watching Barnes, who hesitated for a long time, his eyes on the chip. Barnes finally looked up at Tony and gave a tiny, tired smile.

"Making me a new arm, Tony, I thank you so much, really. But it's not going to change anything. I can't just replace it like nothing happened. What's done is done, and I have to take responsibility. So, I don't expect anything more. There's no new start or a clean slate for me, and there shouldn't be," Barnes spoke calmly.

Looking at Barnes smile apologetically, Tony already knew he was going to regret what he was going to do next.

Tony bit his tongue, looked the other way, tiptoed around Barnes for longer than he could handle, and the tone Barnes took, that final tone of giving up, pushed Tony off the edge.

"No new start, huh? Because of what happened out of your control? You're very arrogant if you think you had the option or power to change anything, I mean any fucking thing that happened to you. You do understand what brainwashing is, right?

You want to crawl up and die? Then I guess congratulations are in order. Because you're doing great, baby. You refuse to sleep, you're losing weight every day, you're tired all the time but insist on doing the fucking worthless training Rogers asks.

How long do you think you're going to last? Oh, you want to bet on it? Because I'll give you, well, a week?"

Tony realized he was shouting. He should stop, let Barnes go, it wasn't Tony's choice to make, Barnes looked scared, but he kept going.

"Fuck. I swear to god, I will knock you out so you can please, please just fucking sleep. Watching you like this is exhausting. I fucking can't anymore, so, Barnes, just. Please. Tell me what to do. I'll do it."

Tony stopped, dizzy with anger and frustration, then found Barnes looking at him quietly.

"Tony, why are you so upset?" Barnes asked, his voice weak.

"I'm... not," Tony's heart was beating fast. Go somewhere else, Tony's instinct urged.

"I remember some," Barnes mumbled, "Of the day Thor gave me the drink."

It was like waking up.

"Why are you here, Barnes?" Tony asked, and he knew the answer. 

He knew it for a long time, he just didn't have the nerve to face it.

"Why do you come here?" Tony asked again.

"You know why," Barnes murmured.

Tony took three urgent steps and stood close to Barnes. Just within arms-length.

"Say no," Tony stated.

"What?"

"Because I'm going to kiss you. Say no, if you don't want it," Tony slowly leaned in, tilting his head up. Barnes was frozen, looking at Tony with those wide sharp eyes.

"Barnes, I need you to say something," Tony said, backing off, and Barnes grabbed Tony's waist and closed the distance. When their lips met, Tony sighed, finally, but Barnes swallowed the word.

It was different from what Tony's been imagining. In his guilt-ridden daydreaming session, their kiss was urgent, fast, and they fit perfectly. It wasn't like that. It was slow and a bit awkward. Tony opened his eyes to find Barnes staring at him.

"Close your eyes," Tony laughed and mumbled against Barnes's mouth.

"Ok."

Tony slowly brought Barnes in. It wasn't at all like Tony's fantasy, but one thing was right. They fit perfectly.

Tony took time learning Barnes's lips and slid his tongue in. Barnes made a desperate sound, then he was on Tony in a second.

"Ok, I have to give it to you. This is the best plan," Barnes said, panting when Tony finally let him go.

Tony dived in again, pushing Barnes to the couch, one hand on Barnes's back and other hand sliding in Barnes's jeans, thinking yes, yes, more, please, then he stopped thinking.

\--

Tony barely gathered the strength to get off Barnes, who didn't let him go easily, keeping his magical hands on Tony. Cheat.

Tony got a wet towel and wiped himself. Barnes watched him splayed naked on the couch, content and drowsy. Tony almost got another boner.

"Enjoying the view?" Tony asked as he put his clothes on.

"Liked it better off," Barnes said, his eyelids growing heavy with sleep.

Tony got a cup of water and came back, wiped Barnes off gently while Barnes drank. Barnes naked was a dangerously addictive thing, but Tony coaxed him to put his shirt and jeans back on. He saw Barnes putting the chip in his pocket and smiled.

Tony got on top of Barnes, and Barnes let out a satisfied moan, instantly putting his hands all over Tony.

"Ok, sleep time," Tony said, nipping Barnes's neck.

"I can't when you're doing that," Barnes laughed, and Tony covered Barnes's eyes with his hand.

"Come on, go to sleep," Tony whispered.

He licked the sweat off Barnes's neck, dragging a moan from Barnes. Tony wanted to hear more of it, so he kept going on. Tony kissed Barnes's cheek and thought, maybe round two? When Barnes went quiet.

"Hey, something wrong?" Tony asked.

"I'm sorry," Barnes said, his eyes covered.

"Hm?" Tony got up, confused.

"I'm sorry for what I've done. To your parents."

Tony stopped dead then got off of Barnes like something hot burned him.

"Tony," Barnes took Tony's hand, pleading.

"You need to work on your pillow talk, Barnes," Tony tried to say casually, but he was shaking.

"I'm pretty sure we burned the muffins," Tony shook off Barnes's hands, a bit too harshly, and walked to the kitchen, just to get away from Barnes.

"I wanted to say it again when there's only two of us, but I couldn't find the right time. Last time, Stevie was there and..." Barnes added urgently.

"So, you chose now?" Tony cut him off with bitter laughter.

"I am sorry. For everything," Barnes said, his voice fading to a whisper.

"Unnecessary, but thank you for saying that," Tony noticed his tone was cold and distant.

The muffins were indeed burnt. Tony threw those in the trash and cleaned up without a word.

Eventually, Tony heard Barnes leaving. He knew he should turn around, fucking say something, stop Barnes, but he didn't.

\--

What was he thinking? He wasn't. That was the problem.

Tony promised Barnes a new arm, a clean slate. Tony even blamed Barnes for not letting go of his past. But, fuck, turns out, it was Tony who couldn't let go of the past.

Compartmentalizing was easy when Tony avoided the fact that the Winter Soldier who killed his parents, and Barnes, who Tony fell for, fundamentally shared the same flesh and bone.

Although Tony knew none of it is Barnes's fault, he didn't blame Barnes for it and sincerely sympathized with Barnes's struggle, romantically being with him was too much for Tony to handle.

Even if Barnes didn't say it tonight, it was a problem they couldn't avoid or solve. What happened before wouldn't change. Barnes was brave and honest to tell it straight. Tony wasn't.

A few months ago, Tony left Barnes because he was afraid of what they could become. He was smart then. He should've kept that distance, but he idiotically fell for Barnes, wanted more.

Tonight they became what Tony desperately wanted them to be, but Tony now knew it wasn't going to work.

Some things just couldn't be done. Tony couldn't be with someone who killed his parents, even if that someone was brainwashed. Even if Tony wanted him more than anything.

It was over.

\--

Tony cut and ran again.

Tony made a list of rules. He needed to focus on his work. So, he would stop going to communal areas, sleep at his penthouse, work at Banner's lab where there was no 'I love New York' T-shirt, half-eaten blueberry muffins, Barnes's couch that smelled like him.

\--

Tony went up to his penthouse as planned. He was gone for just a few days, but it felt like a stranger's home. The bed was too soft. Tony passed out on the couch after his fourth glass of scotch.

Friday woke him up in the middle of the night. She didn't say a word and showed him the CCTV feed of his workshop.

Barnes was standing in front of the storage space, holding the chip Tony gave it to him. He wanted to put it back. Fuck.

Barnes was staring at something. Tony wondered what it was, and realized it was the mattress Tony bought for him but couldn't give him. The small, weird shaped custom-made mattress that fits Barnes's closet perfectly.

Barnes must know what it was for.

Tony ordered Friday to turn off the screen.


	7. Chapter 7

Hot lips on his skin. Whispers of desperate "Please" and "More." Wet hot tongue in his mouth. Cool metal hands touching him all over. It blurs where he ends, and the other begins, pulling him in and in and in, until.

Tony wakes up, panting, reaching for something that's not there. It takes a second for him to realize that he's in his penthouse, on the couch, with a massive, almost painful hard-on.

So, I'm at this level now, huh. It's not even surprising anymore. Tony lies there, looking at his hard cock, dreading what he's going to do next. Yes, he's going to go into the shower and masturbate, thinking about fucking Barnes, who was brainwashed and killed his parents but somehow now the number one priority in Tony's life. Nothing of this should be happening, but it is.

Fuck, Tony swears and calls Pepper.

"I need a date. I don't care who, just put someone next to me tonight."

\--

It's the last day of the bet.

There's Rogers's 'Team' brunch, later Tony has some urgent meetings he can't postpone. At night, there's a fundraiser all the Avengers are expected to participate in.

After masturbating in the shower, twice, hating himself, Tony thinks about his next steps. He could hide out in his penthouse, do his meetings via skype, ditch the team brunch, and the fundraiser. Pepper will try to kill him, but that's nothing new.

Avoid being in the same room with Barnes. That makes sense. He should do that.

But Tony finds himself in the hallway that leads to the kitchen. It's been less than twelve hours, but fuck, he misses Barnes. Tony won't talk to him, just take a short look to make sure Barnes's ok. If things get uncomfortable, he can just leave.

Tony takes a deep breath and goes into the kitchen. He goes for the coffee, trying to look normal. After he takes a sip, he turns around casually to take a look at the room. 

It's chaos, as expected. 

Because Pepper found out about the bet and threatened that if any of them trashes the party by pulling some stupid shit, she will personally ruin them, the team is running out of time.

Tony can smell Natasha's done something very wrong, and the evidence is on the table. Barton lies on the couch, either he gave up, or he himself passed out. Thor's and his team, yes, he has a team in Asgard, is talking via something equivalent of skype.

Then Tony finds Barnes talking to Rogers across the room. He looks tired, but that's nothing new. Barnes catches his eye, and Tony's heart flutters in fear of what will happen next. But Barnes only nods once with a subtle polite smile, then goes back to arguing with Rogers.

Barnes looks... fine.

If not the slight reddish mark Tony left on Barnes's neck, and the pleasant ache of sex, Tony swears he'd think what happened yesterday as just a bizarre yet perfect sex dream.

It's just like last time. Last time when Tony got scared that they're getting too close and left Barnes. After five long nights in the kitchen alone, Barnes stopped waiting for Tony, and both of them acted like nothing happened. Barnes didn't ask why and didn't come to him, let Tony put that distance between them. 

It looks like Barnes is going to do the exact same thing as last time.

So, they're back to normal. They'll be polite co-workers again. Since yesterday happened, it's not going to be the same, but Tony can lie like a pro, and by experience, he's sure Barnes can too.

Tony can't help but feel disappointed. 

But then, what did he expect?

Tony pours the coffee into the sink and leaves the kitchen, clenching his fist.

\--

"The fuck?" is the only thing Tony gets to say before he's thrown to the ground. Tony's poor air deprived brain knows it's Natasha, and she's furious. 

"I'm going to ask you once. What the fuck did you do to Barnes?"

Fuck. Tony hesitates then asks, dreading the answer,

"Why? Did he say something?"

Natasha gives him a long cold look, then states,

"No. He didn't say shit. But now I know he's the problem."

"What?"

"You look like you're about to die, Tony. I figured it has something to do with Barnes."

"Why?"

"Because you guys were practically dating before this," Natasha rolls her eyes.

"You knew?"

"Every fucking person near you guys would know. Did you finally fuck him?" 

"What? No, it's not..." Tony tries to get out of it, but Natasha cuts him off. 

"Oh, so you did fuck. Then what the fuck is wrong?" Natasha says, giving him a dirty look. 

"We, no, I ended it. It's not going to work," Tony says through clenched teeth. And Natasha punches Tony on the shoulder, hard.

"What the fuck?" Tony yells.

"Why the fuck did you do that?" Natasha yells back.

"Do you have to ask me that??" 

"Oh my god! Get over it already!"

"It's not that simple!"

"Nothing's simple to you!"

They shout at each other in the empty hallway until it isn't. Natasha notices a couple of scared staff near and gets off of him. Tony drags himself up to his feet, groaning because of the pain. His shoulder's definitely going to bruise. 

Tony decides to make a list. Natasha's on the top of that list.

"It's not that easy. And Barnes seems... fine," Tony says, trying to hide his disappointment, though Natasha seems to see through it because she's a fucking evil witch.

"Tony, I'm trying very hard not to murder you." 

Just kill me, please, is what Tony wants to say.

"You can not do that to Barnes. He's just adjusting," Natasha sighs, and her tone is softer. She's worried because undoubtedly, Barnes won Natasha's heart by simply being himself.

"I know," Tony says, guilt and regret filling him.

"Knowing is not good enough. You guys are each other's worst option, but you idiots chose each other. Take responsibility for once."

Natasha walks away after giving Tony a look.

\--

Tony told Friday that Barnes is off-limits, so please stop tracking him. 

But Friday ambushes Tony with constant CCTV feed of Barnes. Friday does have an off-button, but she knows Tony can't resist watching Barnes. Tony seriously considers rewriting her. Really. 

"I thought you were supposed to be on my side," Tony grumbles.

"It's for your own good, sir," Friday answers. 

Barnes charmed Tony's AI to take his side because that's what Barnes does.

"I'm surrounded by traitors. Since when do you decide what's good or bad for me?" 

When Tony complains, Friday doesn't respond, which infuriates him. She's like a maddening blend of a wise old man and a grumpy teenager with an attitude problem.

Friday goes on the list.

\--

Since it's the last day of the bet, Tony expected Barnes's day to be hectic, but it turns out, the team really ran out of ideas. 

After Thor's last attempt to kidnap Barnes to Asgard to get rid of the bet failed, they all got depressed as a team, finally, as one team, knowing they're inevitably going to lose, dreading the punishment.

And also, the team's tired. Barnes is not the only one who didn't get sleep. Their insane competitive side made them stay up all night. Since Barnes is a darling on an even irritating level, he takes care of them and puts them to sleep. Because their whole attitude changed from menacing to obedient, Barnes takes charge easily.

Barnes stands in the kitchen for a while, and Tony mumbles to himself, "Please don't." Barnes orders take-out as if he heard Tony. Then he puts one of Thor's unwatchable films, and the team is dead asleep within thirty minutes. He lowers the volume and puts blankets on everyone. It looks like nap time in a kindergarten, sleeping Avengers everywhere. 

Barnes then goes to stand on the corner, looking out for them as if he's on call, deep in thought. Tony thinks Barnes looked at the CCTV for a second, but he's not sure.

\--

After a great nap, the team's in the best condition ever and behaves like good little kids, which makes Pepper happy.

But Tony, who's sleep-deprived, banned to access Barnes by his own stupid choice, is unhappier than ever.

Tony terrifies some poor staff, makes horrible deals, and wants his miserable day to be over, but when he attempts to hide in his penthouse, Pepper's already there. She holds his tuxedo with perfect hair and dress, talking in Chinese with someone on her Bluetooth, waits until Tony reluctantly dress, and eventually force him to follow her to the venue.

It's a huge party packed with every semi-famous or rich person in New York City, so at least Barnes and Tony won't bump into each other. Tony sighs, refuses to talk to Pepper, who keeps asking what's wrong, puts on his phoniest smile, and steps out of the limo.

\--

Tony stumbles into the restroom. He drank too much but has no plan to stop. He considers throwing up to get a head start but instead washes his face with cold water and looks at himself in the mirror to find a completely broken, messed up guy and laughs bitterly. 

The date Pepper put him with is fine. Younger than him, but not the kind of young Tony used to date. Polite, smart, good looking. He wore a cheap suit, and when Tony asked what he does for a living, he smiled apologetically and said he's a lawyer. This shitty suit with a lawyer's salary? Tony wondered and found out he's not the corporate blood-sucking kind, a fucking civil rights lawyer. Still, too modest and Tony's not the one to act shy with money, so Tony plainly asked, and the guy turns out he donates. Tony asked what he does for fun, he said he volunteers every week for homeless trans teenagers. 

"Oh, fuck me!" Tony swore out loud at that, and the way the guy looked at Tony strangely reminded him of Rogers.

Tony was kind of a dick to him, so Pepper intervened. Pepper mouthed, "Be nice," and Tony huffed. "You need this, a nice guy to ground you. I know it's incredibly hard for you, but don't be a fucking asshole for once," Pepper whispered and took Tony's drink away from him, pushed him to the restroom.

Pepper goes on his list.

\--

Yeah, the tabloids' going to love this. Ex-playboy turned by a saint. Tony could picture them together. Maybe it'll be nice. Tony took a look, he does have a great body. Tony's pretty sure he runs marathons for kid cancer or something.

Tony's usually not this much of a dick. His date's objectively a nice guy. Tony too donates a considerable amount, and Pepper organizes a lot of charity events on behalf of him and the company, which are the only ones he goes willingly. 

Tony doesn't know why he's acting out. And why he's constantly comparing him to Barnes. Hair color's too light, his smiles shows too many teeth, too relaxed, voice is higher, smells different.

Tony's thinking of ways to sneak back to his penthouse and curl up with a drink, drown in self-pity, and self-hatred in relative safety, when someone approaches from behind.

"Um, Tony?"

Tony jumps and, while trying to protect himself, does the exact opposite. He bumps his shoulder on the cold hard wall, the same one that Natasha destroyed.

"Jesus fucking Christ, I almost had a heart attack," Tony snaps, grabbing his aching shoulder. This bruise, it's going to be spectacular.

"Sorry," Barnes says.

At least this time, Tony doesn't have a gun to get scolded of his aim.

"You can't come up to me like that. Make a fucking noise for once," Tony shoots back, "How long have you been standing there?"

"I... I just came in. I'm sorry."

Tony's too worked up, he realizes he's been harsh on Barnes for nothing.

"It's fine," Tony grumbles.

Tony washes his hands and sneaks a peek to find Barnes in a nice fitting tux. Whoever picked that for him deserves a promotion. With his hair pulled back with a flattering tux, Barnes looks practically edible. 

Tony washes his hands over again, waiting for Barnes to leave, but he seems like he has no plan to go, and Tony can't rewash his hands anymore.

Since they're doing the 'Even though I shoved my tongue in your glorious mouth and you did very naughty lovely things with your tongue, cock, and hands, and I can see the marks I left on your neck, and I have to search deep to find the will power to fight off the pathetic boner creeping on, everything's back to normal, and we're not going to talk about it' act so, Tony thinks, small talk, go.

"So, how's the...." Tony starts.

"I want to...." Barnes murmurs.

They both stop. It's odd because they've never been in this kind of situation. They were always comfortable with one other. Tony understands that second, their thing really ended and feels an awful sense of loss.

They watch each other without a word, surrounded by the muffled noise of the party.

"Ok, you go first," Tony leans against the sink.

"I want to say..." Barnes pauses for a second, then steps forward and stands close to Tony. They're within arm's length again, and Tony strangely feels intimidated.

Barnes closes his eyes and inhales a shaky breath, and Tony unintentionally follows him. When Barnes opens his eyes, it's sharper than ever.

"Tony, you said, find what I want."

"Huh?"

"I can choose now, so, you told me to find what I want."

Barnes pauses for a second, and Tony doesn't know if he wants to stop him or drag the words out of him.

"I want to tell you that I found it."

Stop, Tony thinks. Leave now, it's not too late, he thinks. But his traitor body won't move.

"I choose you. I want you," Barnes says softly.

Tony grabs the sink hard.

"I was in a bad place when I moved into the Tower. It felt like I was drowning every day. And then you gave me a home, you fed me, you told me I can choose and want. You were there for me," Barnes continues, his eyes not leaving Tony's. 

Barnes chooses his words carefully and says slowly and clearly. Barnes has been preparing for this, this is a prepared speech, Tony thinks, dazed.

"I chose you a while ago, but I knew you were off-limits, so I was happy just being around you. But then, I noticed some things and... No, I guess I misunderstood some signs. I got selfish and wanted more. I'm sorry about that."

Suddenly, it feels like there are only two of them. The party, people waiting for him, the responsibility and tasks, those are nothing to Tony now. This is the dangerous effect of being with Barnes. Nothing else matters when Tony's with Barnes.

"And about yesterday,"

It takes some time for Barnes to continue. Barnes bites his lips hard, and Tony wants to stop him, but he can't, so he waits.

Barnes looks at the floor with his head bowed down, hair falling down his face. Now that Tony knows how soft his hair is, how it feels on his fingers, how Barnes leans to the touch, Tony's fingers tingle because of the strong desire to reach for it. But then, Barnes brushes it off his forehead, looks at Tony, focused.

"I wanted to say it for a long time, but I couldn't find the right time. I was scared and didn't want to ruin what, I thought, we had. I know now that maybe it wasn't the best time to say it, but I had to say it, and I don't regret it.

I am truly sorry for what happened, and I hope you'll forgive me one day."

He's good, Tony thinks. One of the best he's heard. Simple. Earnest. Maybe not the best place and time to do it, this being a bathroom, and Tony being two drinks away from totally blacking out. But he understands that Barnes took the chance. 

Tony realizes that he is analyzing the situation like a mission report to protect himself.

"Tony, you made me happy, and I wasn't for a very long time."

Barnes was calm, but when he says this, his voice shakes, and his eyes get wet briefly. Soon Barnes shakes his head a couple of times, smiles apologetically fighting back the tears and this, hits Tony hard.

"I'm not expecting or asking for anything. I just wanted to tell you that it's you, and I thank you for the time and attention you gave me," Barnes says.

Tony should say something, but nothing comes to mind. Dazed, Tony wonders what Barnes would do after saying something honest like that. 

Barnes fucking waits. Because that's what Barnes does. Barnes knows Tony needs time right now. He's honest and brave and patient and careful and thoughtful, and...

"I can't be here," It just slips out of Tony, and he immediately wants to smash his head on the sink.

"Ok," Barnes steps back, giving Tony space and Tony wants to grab him but,

"I have... people waiting for me," Tony murmurs, but he can't move.

"You should go," Barnes says softly, his gentle voice nudging Tony to go.

And Tony does just that.

\--

Months ago, before the bet started, when they had their intimate nightly meets, Tony and Barnes sat together on the couch and watched some shit TV. Tony can't remember what they watched, but he remembers what they had for dinner. 

They stole from the fridge. Rogers's cold pizza, Banners' leftover Chinese, and cheesecake Natasha put a post-it note on that she will seriously kill if you touch it. Only Barton's gluten, dairy-free fish pie and, Thor's weird meat dish, they didn't touch. 

Tony had work to do, so he had pizza on his one hand and with his other hand, coding on his laptop, simultaneously commenting on the shit TV.

"You suck at multitasking," Barnes said as he took the laptop from him.

"What? I excel in multitasking, I thrive, I shine..." Tony argued.

Barnes fixed more than a few errors Tony made, even finished Tony's work, then gave the laptop back to him. Tony was speechless with awe, and Barnes murmured,

"I'm not like Stevie. I, um, worked all through now, you know."

"Fuck, you know what? You're perfect," Tony said, and Barnes blushed, so Tony rambled on to tease him.

"You really can do everything, do you? Come work for me, please. I need you. Come save me."  
  
"Shut up," Barnes said, his blush deepening. 

With no homework, Tony watched TV, trying to fight off the food coma when Barnes blurted out,

"What do you want to be if you're not you?"

"What do you mean?" Tony said yawning.

"I just thought, If you're not Tony Stark."

"But I am, and it's awesome."

"Come on."

Barnes never just spontaneously said something, just as Tony never coincidentally came to the kitchen for their nightly meets. This talk is something Barnes has been preparing.

"I always liked cars. I might do something with those," Tony said.

"That suits you."

"Yeah, I'd like that. Set up a shop in maybe Texas, do tractor repairs, hire at-risk teens, get some over the top tattoos, go back home to unhappy wife and dumpy two kids, in a dead-end marriage but delay divorcing after the kids go off to college, fuck once a month, have a crush on a cute guy who works at some dumb place," Tony saw Barnes smile and rambled on.

"What do you think I would do?" Barnes said after a while.

"Huh?"

"You read my files. You know what I can do. What do you think I should do?" 

Tony noticed the subtle word change from 'Would' to 'Should.' Tony tried to stay away from tough or serious subjects when he's with Barnes because he knew Barnes was getting plenty of those from Rogers and countless therapy sessions Rogers and Tony both agreed to put Barnes through.

But Tony couldn't stop himself from putting his laptop down on the table and face Barnes.

"Barnes, You can choose. Before, you couldn't, I know. But now you can, so go find what you want and choose to do it."

"I don't know if I'll ever find it," Barnes's voice was so close to a whisper, unsure and afraid, Tony's heart sank.

"You will. Find what you want and take it. Ok?"

Barnes smiled softly. 

"I'll try."

Tony realized that he was holding Barnes's hand hard and startled. He let Barnes's hand go clumsily and said,

"Don't do my car thing. That's my back up. Um, and tell me, cause I want to know what weird shit you choose."

They watched TV for a couple of hours, but all Tony remembers now is how Barnes looked when he said he'll try.

\--

In his workshop, Tony pushes the guy to the wall and kisses him roughly. When Tony unbuttons the guy's shirt, he stops him.

"You don't fuck?" Tony says, impatient.

"No, I do fuck. But I want to make sure you want this."

"Of course, I want it," Tony says, sucking the guy's neck.

"Tony. Stop," The guy says, and Tony backs off immediately.

"Come on. You're saying you don't want me?" Tony grins, pointing at the guy's huge hard-on.

"I want to fuck you, yes," The guy says, buttoning his shirt back.

"So?" Tony argues.

The guy grabs Tony's soft cock through his pants.

"Seriously, Tony. Look at me. I'm very hot, and I'm a great kisser."

"Don't flatter yourself," Tony grumbles.

"I am. And you're not hard at all," The guy goes to collect his jacket and puts it on like a fucking model.

"I don't think you want me. And even though I would really, really like to fuck you, I stopped having meaningless sex a long time ago. I suggest you do too. There's not enough time to fuck the one you want."

"I can try," Tony says quietly, "I can try to want you."

"Hmm, very romantic," The guy says dryly, kisses Tony's cheek once and smiles. And it is a great smile.

"I'm going to tell Pepper that you were a gentleman, we had a great time, you didn't spend most of the time drunk and looking for another guy, Barnes?"

"What? How did you...?" 

"I'm pretty perceptive, and you said his name like ten times," The guy winks.

"Fuck, I'm sorry."

"It's ok because you're going to make a generous donation. I'll send you the link," The guy says at the door.

"Too pricy for one bad date, don't you think?" Tony shouts.

"It's worth it. Good luck, Tony," The guy says and walks out.

The door slides closed, and Tony slumps on a chair. Barnes's empty couch is facing him, mocking him. 

Tony looks around the workshop. The god damn blueberry recipe is lying on the table, and next to it, there's Barnes's chip. He sobers up right away. 

Weak, Tony thinks.

Tony promised he won't come to his workshop, but he's here after one day. He promised himself he'll stay away from Barnes, and he went to see him this morning. Tony tried to fuck that guy, but he couldn't stop comparing him with Barnes. He couldn't stop thinking of what Barnes said, how he looked at Tony at the party.

Tony's weak, so he can't resist Barnes's couch. He lies on the couch that smells like Barnes and reminds Tony of many memorable times they spent together.

So, Tony makes the pros and cons list in his mind.

Cons. The winter soldier killed his parents. They can't change it. Tony might not be able to get past it. And Barnes's not ready, he needs time and stability to heal. Tony's not sure if he can give him that. Tony's not ready too. Tony's relationships always failed. Even if they make it somehow, it might crash and burn. And it's not with a random person, it's Barnes. He's kind, patient, sweet, honest, thoughtful, smart, determined, stubborn, brave, hot as fuck, really really unfairly hot.

And Tony's pros and cons list lean to how Barnes is great, and just like the last time when he left mid-making the pros and cons list to find Barnes his room, Tony abandons the list completely.

The last thing that passes through his mind before leaving the workshop is,

Fuck it.

\--

Tony's at Barnes's door. He's been standing there for a while, thinking of what to do. But Barnes opens the door before Tony knocks.

"Tony?" Barnes asks.

Tony's not ready, he panics and considers just running away, but that will be very stupid. So, he doesn't run, but the thing Tony does isn't much better than running. Tony bluntly pushes the mattress to Barnes.

"I brought this," Tony mutters.

"It's supposed to fit your closet. I bought it when I heard you sleep there."

"Ok, Thank you," Barnes says.

Tony stands there, avoiding looking at Barnes, holding the mattress like a shield and thank god, Barnes says first,

"Do you want to come in?"

"Yes."

Tony drags the mattress into Barnes's room. Tony can't look at him straight, but he can sense Barnes is confused. 

Since Tony can't even look at Barnes's general direction, he looks around the room. Tony last saw it when it was empty. Tony imagined it to be colorless, weapons everywhere. Because Barnes is always on guard, he thought his room will be like that. 

But it's not. It's Barnes's home. Tony scans the place and decides right away that he likes it. There's a tiny kitchen, a table also used as a desk, books lying around and a bed. Barnes has very little stuff, nothing there is unnecessary and neatly organized, reminds Tony of Barnes. Most of all, the room smells like Barnes, which Tony likes very much. 

Tony finds Barnes staring at him and says, trying to hide he's nervous,

"You want me to put it in there? Because I can."

"Ok."

Tony knows this is not how grand gestures are supposed to go, awkward silences and confusion, and just general suckery. But at least he has something to do. Tony tries to rip the plastic cover, but apparently, people who packed this hate humankind because it will simply not open. They go on Tony's list.

Tony does his best but fails, so Barnes has to come and help. With the help of Barnes's metal arm, Tony finally puts the mattress in Barnes's closet, which thankfully fits perfectly. At least one thing goes as Tony's plan. If the mattress didn't fit, Tony would've definitely quit and run away.

Then, Tony regrets finishing the job, because now he has to say something. Barnes stares at him, puzzled. Tony can see Barnes is lost, he doesn't know what to do, and Tony pities Barnes and, why not, himself too, deeply. 

They stand across from each other, plenty of distance in between. Barnes still has his tux on, looking fucking great, which doesn't help Tony's struggle at all. Tony should've written it down on a cue card or something because as soon as he meets Barnes's eyes, his mind goes blank.

"I work too much," Tony blurts out.

"Huh?"

Tony thinks this is not the plan, shut the fuck up, but his mouth keeps going.  
  
"People say I'm an asshole, which I can't disagree, to be honest. I don't trust people. I talk too much to hide that I'm insecure, and I need constant validation. I have intimacy issues. I cut and run when I feel like I'm getting too close to someone, and yeah, that's what I did to you. Twice. I know I desperately need therapy, which I never go to because I'm afraid of what I'll find out. I really need therapy. I know I have the money, have the time, but..." Tony hesitates.

"Um, do you want it from me?" Barnes says slowly, frowning.

"No, it's not... Ok. Let me finish. I dated a lot. A lot. You can google me if you haven't done yet. It's an interesting read. It all ended terribly because I really don't know how to be with other people. I've been told that I'm too self-absorbed, distant. I don't really like talking about personal stuff."

"Tony, do you want to sit down?" Barnes asks.

"No, I'm not done. I'm significantly older than you. And you're so very much out of my league. Oh, but I don't cheat. That's one okay quality of me. But I fuck things up. See? I'm doing it again."

Finally, Tony ran out of things to say. Barnes looks at Tony quietly and says,

"I practiced." 

"What?"

"I practiced before I spoke to you at the party," Barnes says, with a slight smile. 

"Ok, maybe I should've too," Tony sighs.

"Yeah, you're bad at this."

"Oh, and I kissed that guy. Like an hour ago," Tony adds.

"Tony, I really think you should stop talking," Barnes says, biting back his smile.

Tony sighs and says after a while, unsure and afraid,

"Do you still want me?"  
  
"After your big speech? How can I not?" Barnes grins.

"That's good. Because I choose you too," Tony adds urgently.

"Ok."

"Ok?"

"Yes. I want you."

Barnes has a stupid grin on his face that probably matches one on Tony's face. It calms Tony down a bit.

"Barnes. I regret how I acted yesterday and today. Of course, I know it wasn't you. But it blurred for a moment, and I got scared. It's all my fault. 

I can't promise you that it won't happen again. I understand that I have some stuff to work on, and I will. I know it might not work. But I want to try it because I like you very much. Very very much. Because you're great. You're thoughtful, brave, honest, and..."

"You can stop now," Barnes says.

"Still bad?" Tony winces.

"No, I want to kiss you," Barnes moves fast. Barnes is on Tony in a second. Barnes grabs Tony's face with both hands and steals a chaste, innocent, closed-mouth kiss. Then Barnes buries his face on Tony's shoulder, an almost childlike gesture that makes Tony's heart jump. But it's the one with the huge bruise, and Tony groans because of the pain.

Barnes lets go immediately, and Tony has to explain to get the scared look off of Barnes. Then he has to stop Barnes from going to Natasha for revenge.

Tony considers what to do. Tony looks at Barnes, his gaze soft, and makes his mind up. He's never sure of anything more than this.

Tony starts to undress. First, he kicks off his shoes, takes his socks off. The floor is cold on his bare feet. 

"What are you doing?" Barnes asks, frowning.

"Take your clothes off," Tony says.

"What? No! Why?" Barnes turns red, which makes Tony laugh.

"Come on, just do it. You trust me, right?"

Barnes mumbles ok, and takes his shoes off, still blushing. 

They undress, looking at one other. It's like they're mirroring each other. Coats come off, then they undo the ties. Unbuttons the shirt at the same time, from top to bottom. The shirt comes off, then belts, pants, underwear.

At last, they're naked. It's a bit strange, seeing the other standing naked. They fucked last night, but it was more a blur. Tony spots a lot of scars, muscle made for the only purpose of killing, his metal arm, and the wounds on the part that connect the flesh and metal.

Barnes shifts a little, not knowing what to do.

"Tony," Barnes whispers.

Tony gets in the closet and lies down on the mattress first, looks up at Barnes, and taps the spot next to him.

They both lie face up, looking at the ceiling. The space is small for two grown men, but they fit ok anyway. Tony reaches down to find Barnes's hand and holds it.

"Tony, what are we doing?" Barnes asks.

"You're going to sleep."

"I don't… I can't."

Tony turns around and looks at him. 

"Go to sleep. It's ok."

Tony slowly strokes Barnes's hair, chest, arms, everywhere he can reach. Barnes just melts on Tony's touch. Tony feels the goosebumps rising, the old scars, and the warmth and smoothness of it. Barnes's breathing gets a bit urgent. Tony feels Barnes's hard-on on his thighs, and it is very tempting. Tony's hard too. 

"Are we having…?" Barnes whispers.

"Yeah, we are. Definitely. One hundred percent. But not now. Later."

"But I want to do it now," Barnes whines, and Tony laughs out loud.

"No, you have to sleep."

"We can do it first and then..."

"No, sleep first, fuck second. And I promise you, I'm going to fuck you so hard, you won't remember your name."

Barnes's cock twitches at that, and Tony smiles.

"I'm scared," Barnes murmurs after a while.

"I'm scared too," Tony smiles and plants a kisses on his forehead.

"I promise I'll wake you up if you have nightmares, and I'll be here waiting for you when you wake up."

It takes some time for Barnes to fall asleep. Tony has to fight Barnes's hand off his cock more than a couple of times. But eventually, Tony hears Barnes's soft snoring and smiles, yes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One chapter left. Next one's going to be just fluff and sexy times. Happy New Year!


End file.
